VOOM Installations
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I'm confused about what the consensus is on using a diplexer vs. a separate coax cable for the OTA antenna. Everywhere I've read in the forum suggests that I *insist* on a separate cable. However, in the following thread, sat4me states that I *need* to use a single cable:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=19868
Please help me sort this out before my installation on Monday.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=19868
Please help me sort this out before my installation on Monday.
Kaysadeya said:
There was a time were bad diplexers were creating problems for a lot of customers. Lately, it looks like VOOM is using another diplexer or got rid of the bad ones. It is my preference to do two lines since I do not want anything in between sat or antenna, so that I can troubleshoot problems better if they occur. However, there are a large number of people that are using diplexers without problems.
Sean,Sean Mota said:
Your reason is somewhat justified, however, if you needed to trouble-shoot a problem, replacing or bypassing the diplexer for the sake of troublshooting is very easy.
As the moderator of these threads, I may suggest you verify the correct scope of installation work that VOOM includes. Perhaps since you have a direct path to the VOOM group via Wilt and the Installs, inc. folks, you'll find the current equipment configuration design requires the use of the new diplexer/combiner.
If you support the dual cabling, this will only create additional strain on the customer and most of the installers during the installation process.
Please check with the powers that be, so correct info is given on this awesome info site..
Keep up the good work!
sat4me said:
I believe you are correct in your assessment. When the DVR comes out, I might opt for the diplexer since I would not want more holes in my wall. I have too many right now with a 6000u, VOOM, OTA and 721 going to the same TV.
Installed 6/10/04 - Question on OTA
I had my install done last Thursday. It took several hours, but was (mostly) successful! I watched Voom that evening and was highly impressed with the PQ. The installer was unable to get any of the local digital channels to come in with the included Winegard antenna. The next morning, no Voom. I was busy all weekend so didn't call until Sunday AM. It took several attempts and a couple of disconnects to get through and place my service call. There was no attempt to troubleshoot the problem, I was just told that the installer would contact me to come back out. No contact from installer in 30 hours, I called back (same problems getting someone - they must be having incredible call volume) and was assured that someone would contact me within 24 hours. Wednesday comes, still no contact, I decide that I should do the 'factory reset' on the box. Bang! We're Vooming!
I called Voom back (patience IS a virtue) and let them know that I was now Vooming, but that I still needed my OTA fixed. (AntennaWeb says I should get 9 channels, Zap2It maps 19 for me). I am happy with Voom so far, thanks to all of the information here my expectations have been reasonably set.
Question - How long should I expect it to take to get my OTA issues A) addressed and B) resolved?
Thanks!
Jeff
Hitachi 51S500 (DVI to Voom STB)
Harman Kardon AVR525
JVC Progressive Scan DVD/VCR
TiVo Series 2
Charter Digital Cable
Voom
I had my install done last Thursday. It took several hours, but was (mostly) successful! I watched Voom that evening and was highly impressed with the PQ. The installer was unable to get any of the local digital channels to come in with the included Winegard antenna. The next morning, no Voom.
I was busy all weekend so didn't call until Sunday AM. It took several attempts and a couple of disconnects to get through and place my service call. There was no attempt to troubleshoot the problem, I was just told that the installer would contact me to come back out. No contact from installer in 30 hours, I called back (same problems getting someone - they must be having incredible call volume) and was assured that someone would contact me within 24 hours. Wednesday comes, still no contact, I decide that I should do the 'factory reset' on the box. Bang! We're Vooming! I called Voom back (patience IS a virtue) and let them know that I was now Vooming, but that I still needed my OTA fixed. (AntennaWeb says I should get 9 channels, Zap2It maps 19 for me). I am happy with Voom so far, thanks to all of the information here my expectations have been reasonably set.
Question - How long should I expect it to take to get my OTA issues A) addressed and B) resolved?
Thanks!
Jeff
Hitachi 51S500 (DVI to Voom STB)
Harman Kardon AVR525
JVC Progressive Scan DVD/VCR
TiVo Series 2
Charter Digital Cable
Voom
jstrait, welcome. Check our local forum to see anyone in your area has the same problem or solutions. Which local channels are you getting in your PG? This is the first thing to do. Just to see if they are mapped correctly.
Installed on 6/16...
Hello all...just got voomed on 6/16 and it went very smoothly here in NE Atlanta (Lawrenceville)....after reading posts on this forum, I was concerned about equip. availability so called Installs Inc on Monday (2 days before install) and they said all was good to go...they also said the installer in Atlanta has had no equip shortage like some of you have posted. I wonder if this has to do with locality....
Anyway, my install was replacing my 2 year old Dish 6000 HD receiver...I was very impressed with the operation of the Voom STB as opposed with the Dish6000, no more freezing and I get almost all of the OTA digital channels; last count I was getting 7 good signals coming from the antenna (already existed before Voom was installed, used w/ my Dish 6000 receiver...it is not the Winegard that some of the Voom newbies have been getting installed, I don't know anything about the Winegards. Rather, it is a huge Channelmaster Yagi antenna that is connected to a pre-amp and sits in a rotor operated by remote control.). I had to get a big antenna 2 years ago because we are in a valley surrounded by tall trees (we are only about 20 miles from the stations).
Anyway, my hardware install went flawlessly, have not had a chance to fairly evaluate the service, but I will say that I was watching soccer on the worldsport channel and the PQ made me cry tears of joy...
Hello all...just got voomed on 6/16 and it went very smoothly here in NE Atlanta (Lawrenceville)....after reading posts on this forum, I was concerned about equip. availability so called Installs Inc on Monday (2 days before install) and they said all was good to go...they also said the installer in Atlanta has had no equip shortage like some of you have posted. I wonder if this has to do with locality....
Anyway, my install was replacing my 2 year old Dish 6000 HD receiver...I was very impressed with the operation of the Voom STB as opposed with the Dish6000, no more freezing and I get almost all of the OTA digital channels; last count I was getting 7 good signals coming from the antenna (already existed before Voom was installed, used w/ my Dish 6000 receiver...it is not the Winegard that some of the Voom newbies have been getting installed, I don't know anything about the Winegards. Rather, it is a huge Channelmaster Yagi antenna that is connected to a pre-amp and sits in a rotor operated by remote control.). I had to get a big antenna 2 years ago because we are in a valley surrounded by tall trees (we are only about 20 miles from the stations).
Anyway, my hardware install went flawlessly, have not had a chance to fairly evaluate the service, but I will say that I was watching soccer on the worldsport channel and the PQ made me cry tears of joy...
My installer nightmare yesterday
Okay, just for the record, here's my story.
BACKGROUND
I got Voom installed about a month ago. The installer who came was fairly good (but as you might expect, not very knowldgeable). He hooked everything up and was able to get 96 signal quality without really doing any adjustments to the dish. He also set up the OTA antenna (I have a massive VHF/UHF antenna on the roof, but think it is poorly positioned, so wanted a smaller antenna higher on the peak for a variety of reasons). He was unable to get any signal using the ChannelMaster antenna he installed. I asked him to adjust it and he said it wasn't necessary as it is unlikely I would get a signal with it. He told me he would ask Voom to get me an upgraded antenna. On making a trip up to the roof a week later, I tweaked the antenna and was able to adjust it to receive ALL my OTA channels, but with occasional breakups. Not hearing anything from Voom, I called (and called, and called) and finally got a tech support guy.
THE STORY
The tech support guy was sympathetic and was willing to schedule a service call to get an upgraded antenna installed. He also asked me if I minded having TWO cables coming in to my house so the diplexer could be eliminated. I willingly agreed (actually this is what I preferred). After some problems with scheduling the install, the installer showed up today. First, he asked why I wasn't just using my large antenna. After explaining some issues with moving the antenna for a different purpose, he suggested that we just use a splitter and stick with the large antenna. I asked him to first get the thing working without using my existing antenna (as I had other issues with that antenna) and then we could explore options. He quickly stuck a Winegard antenna in place of the ChannelMaster and asked me to check signal strength. I found the Signal Quality to be in the low 50s (compared to low 70s with the ChannelMaster). Without bothering to make any adjustments, he declared that this antenna woud not work. He said that the Winegard is an omnidirectional antenna as opposed to the ChannelMaster, which is uni-directional so could not possibly be better for my situation. I asked him about running the second line instead of using the diplexer and he said this was not possible because both the ChannelMaster and the Winegard were POWERED antennas that required the diplexer to get the power. I told him that I thought it could get the power from the receiver and he insisted that the diplexer was essential in order for these antennas to get their power.
We also tried hooking up my LARGE antenna and were unable to get a strong signal with that (low 40s in signal quality). Finally, in frustration, I told him to just put everything back to the way it was and that I would live with the occasional breakups that came with the ChannelMaster. He put the ChannelMaster back and was now unable to get ANY OTA signal with this antenna. I explained that I was getting signal quality in the 70s just before he came and I would like it back to that level and he tried some adjusting and said it was a lost cause and that "these things happen" with OTA signal and my only choice was to ask Voom for an even larger antenna that would have to sit on the peak of my roof. I tried to explain (I was completely sick of this guy by this time) that I just wanted him to put things back to exactly the way they were before he showed up (OTA SQ in low 70s) and he said it was not possible. Now, I get NO OTA at all. My problem went from "occasional breakups" to "no signal" even though he is supposed to have gone back to the way things were. When I asked him to explain why I couldn't just get the same signal strength back, he kept saying "that's just the way things go in your neighborhood. you have a lot of trees around here and you in somewhat of a valley, so this is the best you can get." I kept trying to tell him that I was getting a *relatively* stable signal on all my OTA channels (except for the breakups which caused me to call Voom) and he just shrugged his shoulders and asked me to call Voom to ask for an even larger antenna.
CONCLUSION
As most of you know, I think part of the problem is these installers are not very highly paid and so incompetence is not rare. I am also wondering if these installers get paid by the call. So, they have an incentive to keep asking customers to call Voom for upgrades rather than doing their best to troubleshoot on one visit. This guy would not even try and tweak the antenna to get a signal until I insisted. He said he was knowledgeable enough to know generally where to point the antenna and tweaking is not going to help. I think his insistence that a diplexer is REQUIRED in order to get the powered antennas to work is wrong (anyone know better?). The guy essentially ended up spending about 3 hours of his and my time to leave with the situation MUCH WORSE than when he came in.
I think I'll wait for my return from a family vacation to try and tweak the antenna myself. I am now scared of letting these installers screw things up even more. Anyone have any advice?
Okay, just for the record, here's my story.
BACKGROUND
I got Voom installed about a month ago. The installer who came was fairly good (but as you might expect, not very knowldgeable). He hooked everything up and was able to get 96 signal quality without really doing any adjustments to the dish. He also set up the OTA antenna (I have a massive VHF/UHF antenna on the roof, but think it is poorly positioned, so wanted a smaller antenna higher on the peak for a variety of reasons). He was unable to get any signal using the ChannelMaster antenna he installed. I asked him to adjust it and he said it wasn't necessary as it is unlikely I would get a signal with it. He told me he would ask Voom to get me an upgraded antenna. On making a trip up to the roof a week later, I tweaked the antenna and was able to adjust it to receive ALL my OTA channels, but with occasional breakups. Not hearing anything from Voom, I called (and called, and called) and finally got a tech support guy.
THE STORY
The tech support guy was sympathetic and was willing to schedule a service call to get an upgraded antenna installed. He also asked me if I minded having TWO cables coming in to my house so the diplexer could be eliminated. I willingly agreed (actually this is what I preferred). After some problems with scheduling the install, the installer showed up today. First, he asked why I wasn't just using my large antenna. After explaining some issues with moving the antenna for a different purpose, he suggested that we just use a splitter and stick with the large antenna. I asked him to first get the thing working without using my existing antenna (as I had other issues with that antenna) and then we could explore options. He quickly stuck a Winegard antenna in place of the ChannelMaster and asked me to check signal strength. I found the Signal Quality to be in the low 50s (compared to low 70s with the ChannelMaster). Without bothering to make any adjustments, he declared that this antenna woud not work. He said that the Winegard is an omnidirectional antenna as opposed to the ChannelMaster, which is uni-directional so could not possibly be better for my situation. I asked him about running the second line instead of using the diplexer and he said this was not possible because both the ChannelMaster and the Winegard were POWERED antennas that required the diplexer to get the power. I told him that I thought it could get the power from the receiver and he insisted that the diplexer was essential in order for these antennas to get their power.
We also tried hooking up my LARGE antenna and were unable to get a strong signal with that (low 40s in signal quality). Finally, in frustration, I told him to just put everything back to the way it was and that I would live with the occasional breakups that came with the ChannelMaster. He put the ChannelMaster back and was now unable to get ANY OTA signal with this antenna. I explained that I was getting signal quality in the 70s just before he came and I would like it back to that level and he tried some adjusting and said it was a lost cause and that "these things happen" with OTA signal and my only choice was to ask Voom for an even larger antenna that would have to sit on the peak of my roof. I tried to explain (I was completely sick of this guy by this time) that I just wanted him to put things back to exactly the way they were before he showed up (OTA SQ in low 70s) and he said it was not possible. Now, I get NO OTA at all. My problem went from "occasional breakups" to "no signal" even though he is supposed to have gone back to the way things were. When I asked him to explain why I couldn't just get the same signal strength back, he kept saying "that's just the way things go in your neighborhood. you have a lot of trees around here and you in somewhat of a valley, so this is the best you can get." I kept trying to tell him that I was getting a *relatively* stable signal on all my OTA channels (except for the breakups which caused me to call Voom) and he just shrugged his shoulders and asked me to call Voom to ask for an even larger antenna.
CONCLUSION
As most of you know, I think part of the problem is these installers are not very highly paid and so incompetence is not rare. I am also wondering if these installers get paid by the call. So, they have an incentive to keep asking customers to call Voom for upgrades rather than doing their best to troubleshoot on one visit. This guy would not even try and tweak the antenna to get a signal until I insisted. He said he was knowledgeable enough to know generally where to point the antenna and tweaking is not going to help. I think his insistence that a diplexer is REQUIRED in order to get the powered antennas to work is wrong (anyone know better?). The guy essentially ended up spending about 3 hours of his and my time to leave with the situation MUCH WORSE than when he came in.
I think I'll wait for my return from a family vacation to try and tweak the antenna myself. I am now scared of letting these installers screw things up even more. Anyone have any advice?
Install in Baton Rouge, LA
Ok, I was installed about a week ago. Here's how it went. First I was delayed back on 5/24 for the regular "Equipment hasn't come in" routine. Last Friday, the installer called and said he would be there Sat. morning at 9:00am. I said fine and he showed up around 9:30. First I told him I had DTV and Cable and wanted nothing to change. Obviously I couldn't have DTV and Voom hooked up on the same TV without more lines run to the TV. So I told him to go ahead and use the DTV connections. First, he uses my preexisting DTV Dish.(He did give me the Voom Dish also)So, even if I wanted to, I couldn't switch back very easily without moving the dish. Then he totally bypasses my multiswitch. He connected the Sat feed and the OTA feed to a diplexer and out to my TV. I kinda have a problem with where my dish is, It is pointing up the slope of my roof. I think the dish should be on the other side of the house. Anyway, I had to fix all of his connections to run through the multiswitch, so I could have normal cable on a different input. OTA is a MESS! I don't get any of the network channels. I have looked at zap2it and most of the channels are mapped but they either do not come in at all or they have the wrong programming on the channel. Install took about an hour. However, I am not too impressed with Voom's Customer service or their install as a whole. I liked DTV's equipment better, The menus are faster and the guide is more user friendly. I spoke to DTV yesterday to disconnect and I told the CSR that I had Voom installed and he said that DTV CEO Murdock (sounds like that wicked guy from MacGyver..) had just acquired 40+ HD Channels and will prob. be rolled out by fall. If that is the case I will return to DTV.
Ok, I was installed about a week ago. Here's how it went. First I was delayed back on 5/24 for the regular "Equipment hasn't come in" routine. Last Friday, the installer called and said he would be there Sat. morning at 9:00am. I said fine and he showed up around 9:30. First I told him I had DTV and Cable and wanted nothing to change. Obviously I couldn't have DTV and Voom hooked up on the same TV without more lines run to the TV. So I told him to go ahead and use the DTV connections. First, he uses my preexisting DTV Dish.(He did give me the Voom Dish also)So, even if I wanted to, I couldn't switch back very easily without moving the dish. Then he totally bypasses my multiswitch. He connected the Sat feed and the OTA feed to a diplexer and out to my TV. I kinda have a problem with where my dish is, It is pointing up the slope of my roof. I think the dish should be on the other side of the house. Anyway, I had to fix all of his connections to run through the multiswitch, so I could have normal cable on a different input. OTA is a MESS! I don't get any of the network channels. I have looked at zap2it and most of the channels are mapped but they either do not come in at all or they have the wrong programming on the channel. Install took about an hour. However, I am not too impressed with Voom's Customer service or their install as a whole. I liked DTV's equipment better, The menus are faster and the guide is more user friendly. I spoke to DTV yesterday to disconnect and I told the CSR that I had Voom installed and he said that DTV CEO Murdock (sounds like that wicked guy from MacGyver..) had just acquired 40+ HD Channels and will prob. be rolled out by fall. If that is the case I will return to DTV.
Interesting. The installer was either unaware how to do this, unable to do it, or unwilling to do it. Even though he was explicitly asked by Voom to run two separate lines, he said it couldn't be done with a powered antenna.occammd said:
Thanks for the clarification.
zokucivic said:
Welcome;
go to www.antennaweb.org to see where all your local stations are located (select digital only). It seems like your antenna needs repointing. 40+ HD on D*, yeah right!
Sean, thanks for the quick reply. The PG and the AntennaWeb listing match. The installer also carried a list of OTA channels and their compass directions. The installer also stated that the trees around the back of the house were the problem.
Yes I would report the flake we need to get rid of these phonies, no SBCA 1+2 certification, VoOM certificate, license, if your install has not got these he is not an installer.....he is a wanna be : ) What a joke no ladders, or aluminum ladders, report him saying he never had a ladder and used the Dishnetwork dish, that should be one less crook out there!
I have heard this same story about only having a 6ft ladder before on the s-10 can't believe that a installer would even go out to a home with only a 6ft ladder. Not to meantion that the company he works for let him work like that. shame shame on them.
New install just completed...baffled...
Well my installers showed up and did an overall good job compared to what most get. They took less than an hour which I was really amazed about. Overall I am satisfied with the job they did but have a couple of questions. My first question is why i can get a stronger signal with a pair of rabbit ears in my living room than I can with the powered wineguard they mounted to the side of my house??? My signal power is in the low forties and quality in the low 60s with the wineguard, but with my five dollar rabbit ears my signal and quality both jump by over 10. What is the deal with this i figure there is no way my rabbit ears should get a better signal than the outdoor antenna. Secondly the other station i can't pull in is still only 35 miles away. I get 0 signal strength with the wineguard and a 20 with my rabbit ears but no picture? Any help is greatly appreciated. They also ran 2 lines 1 to the antenna and 1 to the dish at my request. He said he never heard of any issues with using a diplexer but didn't argue with me so that was good.
Well my installers showed up and did an overall good job compared to what most get. They took less than an hour which I was really amazed about. Overall I am satisfied with the job they did but have a couple of questions. My first question is why i can get a stronger signal with a pair of rabbit ears in my living room than I can with the powered wineguard they mounted to the side of my house??? My signal power is in the low forties and quality in the low 60s with the wineguard, but with my five dollar rabbit ears my signal and quality both jump by over 10. What is the deal with this i figure there is no way my rabbit ears should get a better signal than the outdoor antenna. Secondly the other station i can't pull in is still only 35 miles away. I get 0 signal strength with the wineguard and a 20 with my rabbit ears but no picture? Any help is greatly appreciated. They also ran 2 lines 1 to the antenna and 1 to the dish at my request. He said he never heard of any issues with using a diplexer but didn't argue with me so that was good.
