Voom False Advertising??

[whyme]

Most of us probabaly havent taken a look at what Voom has on its web site about Why choose voom because we all have it... Now I personally enjoy Voom because I can lease the box instead of shelling out 400 bucks. But the following Voom lists is troubling:

Check out the Why Voom section http://www.voom.com/see_it/index.jsp

Superior Picture quality over the competition?? (Really with all the PQ complaints?)

Latest Technology?? (Lets see NO DVR and a Motorola box with 4 year old technology?)

 

[TechCop]

Hello, Whyme. Splitting hairs, are we?

Superior Picture quality over the competition?? (Really with all the PQ complaints?)

It's definately superior to the compeditor they drew me away from.

Latest Technology?? (Lets see NO DVR and a Motorola box with 4 year old technology?)

It shares technology all the way back to Thomas Edison and further, and all the way up to the latest software download.

 

[Tvlman]

It IS superior to DirecTV and Time/Warner my previous suppliers on my Home Theater. Suggest you get your set calbrated and check your connections. Use Monster Cables which seem to do better than DVI in some instances.

 

[DarrellP]

Let's not go down this road again, we all know that Voom's HD PQ is inferior to at least Dish. Yes, my set is properly calibrated and on Dish & OTA (including Voom OTA) looks incredible.

 

[andrzej]

Most of us probabaly havent taken a look at what Voom has on its web site about Why choose voom because we all have it... Now I personally enjoy Voom because I can lease the box instead of shelling out 400 bucks. But the following Voom lists is troubling:

Check out the Why Voom section http://www.voom.com/see_it/index.jsp

Superior Picture quality over the competition?? (Really with all the PQ complaints?)

Latest Technology?? (Lets see NO DVR and a Motorola box with 4 year old technology?)

So, you gonna sue them?

 

[DarrellP]

So, you gonna sue them?

Yeah, for higher bitrate, not money.

 

[Dvlos]

Hey DarrellP originally didn't you have tons of issues with WorldSport and PQ problems, have you been watching that channel lately? Some of the issues have been getting better I think, at least a little better (although not perfect yet).

 

[whyme]

Hey I think the PQ is great im just stating that because there are countless posts about E* and D* being much better.. I didnt have HD when I was with Dish but I know the SD channels did look better on Dish on quite a few channels. It is getting better.. But until they get rid of the microstudders I dont see how they can remotely advertise superior picture qualuty.

My big complaint is stating their technology is superior and the latest. It certainly isnt.. Thats like saying a Pentium 3 processor is superior to current generation processors. The moto box is missing features that even the old hardware from competitors had. No PVR either. These are the ways they lure customers in. It simply isnt good customer service to say you have one thing and then when the customer gets it he is disappointed. With no contract this is bad for Voom's buisness when they leave because they were expecting something that didnt happen.

 

[Dvlos]

Maybe they are referring to behind the scenes technology? Also when they go to WM9 or whatever codec wouldn't they be the leader in that aspect as well?

 

[DarrellP]

Hey DarrellP originally didn't you have tons of issues with WorldSport and PQ problems, have you been watching that channel lately? Some of the issues have been getting better I think, at least a little better (although not perfect yet).

I rarely watch WorldSport, but Rave, Rush, DiscoveryHD and MonstersHD are what I watch on a regular basis and they seem to be better lately.

EquatorHD still sucks, I wish they would fix it because that's the type of programming that I like to watch, but the way it is, it's either ridden with mosquito noise or very soft. I don't understand the issue with this channel since it was an existing channel that didn't have the noise prior to Equator launching.

 

[cmercer]

Picture quality

Just got my second receiver installed upstairs. Will be disconnecting the other service. The first thing my wife said when she saw the picture was that it was so much better than the other satellite service. I also switched the two downstairs from one to the other and you could see the VOOM receiver had a noticeably better picture than the other service. No discussion of 720p vs. 1080i. It was just sharper and better on the SD channels. I had nothing to compare the HD to, but they are really good. After the first week of rebooting and getting the system to settle down, no drops or stutters.

 

[DarrellP]

I had nothing to compare the HD to, but they are really good. After the first week of rebooting and getting the system to settle down, no drops or stutters.

Just wait till Voom cranks up the bandwidth and starts delivering HD the way it should be, your jaw will crack when it hits the floor.

 

[Dvlos]

No discussion of 720p vs. 1080i. It was just sharper and better on the SD channels. I had nothing to compare the HD to, but they are really good. After the first week of rebooting and getting the system to settle down, no drops or stutters.

If you have a friend you can check out HDTV on D* or E* check out HDNet, I think the other HD channels like HBO and ESPN on all the services are damn similiar. That channel is flawless in terms of noise, mosaic pixels or mosquito noise, and it's mainly due to higher bandwidth for THAT particular channel. Even if you do not have such access, compare it to your OTA (not PBS).

I wonder if the major problem with Equator is conversion, since Discovery and PBS show the same "type" of shows and theirs doesn't suffer as much. Although the other day I was watching Discovery's HD show on thrill rides (I forgot the exact name of the show) everytime they would change camera angles on this thing, it would be a mess of pixels, then it would settle down, and they'd change the camera angle again into some dark tunnel and it would turn into a sea of pixels again. Wierd.

 

[DarrellP]

I usually watch DiscHD on Dish, I find the picture more crisp and less macro blocking.

 

[kschorz]

Just wait till Voom cranks up the bandwidth and starts delivering HD the way it should be, your jaw will crack when it hits the floor.

Hey DarrellP: Kevin down here in Albany, OR. Can you tell me, what Sat signal level are you receiving with your Voom system?

I wrote Voom a nice email about rain fade and that my sat signal was 65. They responded two days later that they would upgrade my dish. Next day received email from Installs, Inc for scheduling upgrade and week later a guy from Portland installed a 24" dish (I wanted the 30" dish). Now my Sat signal level is around 78 and the stability is much better but I still have some initial channel changing break-up.

Thanks for your info.

 

[Sean Mota]

kschorz,

Is 78 your Satellite Signal Quality? That's quite low if it is. Satellite Signal Quality should be around 90+

 

[DarrellP]

Hey DarrellP: Kevin down here in Albany, OR. Can you tell me, what Sat signal level are you receiving with your Voom system?

I wrote Voom a nice email about rain fade and that my sat signal was 65. They responded two days later that they would upgrade my dish. Next day received email from Installs, Inc for scheduling upgrade and week later a guy from Portland installed a 24" dish (I wanted the 30" dish). Now my Sat signal level is around 78 and the stability is much better but I still have some initial channel changing break-up.

Thanks for your info.

I have a 24" dish and on a clear day I have a signal of 96. Yours sounds low, do you have the latest software? Sounds like your dish needs to be realigned. What may be happening is they may have aligned you to the Dish bird at 61.5, the same thing happened to me. We used my Dish stb to lock in the signal since I didn't know at the time that Voom was on a seperate bird and they are just slightly off orbit from each other. I gained 10 points by realigning using the meter in my Voom stb.

 

[kschorz]

kschorz,

Is 78 your Satellite Signal Quality? That's quite low if it is. Satellite Signal Quality should be around 90+

Hello Sean, thank you for your reply AND your input to the Sat Guys and AVS Forums.

That is what I thought. I am going to write Voom again and see if I can get the 30" dish like I wanted. Installs, Inc. were out of them so we decided to try the 24" first.
Now, with DP's response just after yours, it looks as though I need further investigation.
Please see my next response.

Take care!
Kevin

 

[kschorz]

I have a 24" dish and on a clear day I have a signal of 96. Yours sounds low, do you have the latest software? Sounds like your dish needs to be realigned. What may be happening is they may have aligned you to the Dish bird at 61.5, the same thing happened to me. We used my Dish stb to lock in the signal since I didn't know at the time that Voom was on a seperate bird and they are just slightly off orbit from each other. I gained 10 points by realigning using the meter in my Voom stb.

Hello Darrell and thank you for the reply. I have the V0.05.68 version software. My STB is operating rather fine now. I have not had to soft or hard reboot for about two months.
Now, this realigning sounds interesting. When the initial installers were on-site we did indeed verify the coordinates of 11 El and 61.5 Az. Which Az direction did you swing your Voom dish, east or west?

Thanks again!
Kevin

 

[DarrellP]

I'm looking east. Even with a 30" you'll lose signal when those big black clouds congregate over the Cascades, no way around it. The outages are short-lived though, we'll just have to live with it in this neck of the woods. Hopefully when they fire up the new West coast transponders (don't hold your breath), we will get a more stable signal.

This is one reason I am reluctant to drop the Dish HD Pack since I never lose my Dish signal.