Limited HD Lineup and Horrible SD Picture

[Torvald78]

Well I got Vool yesterday, and yes the HD channles look really good, the only problem is they have nothing on them worth watching... Visit the voom site and you will see their HD lineup is padded with homemade HD content nobody cares about.

Add to that their SD channels look like 56K WMP fees with horrible artifacts and you wonder why they bothered to include SD channels at all...

Sorry to say this was a bad piurchase on my part, not time to see if they will honor their money back guarantee.

[Nick]

Why is it so many of these highly critical posts are made by unregistered "guests"? Torvald78's critique may be fair, by the validity of what s/he says is greatly diminished in my opinion.

Is it just me?

Not having Voom, I'm not in a position to post on the subject - yet.

[abner]

Why is it so many of these highly critical posts are made by unregistered "guests"? Torvald78's critique may be fair, by the validity of what s/he says is greatly diminished in my opinion.

Is it just me?

Not having Voom, I'm not in a position to post on the subject - yet.

I have Voom...swapped out Dish 1 month ago. Voom's HD and SD picture quality both appear better to me. I was using a Dish 6000 for both DBS and OTA...Voom's the equal or better for both.

Not to mention the HD content.

[mini1]

Well I got Vool yesterday, and yes the HD channles look really good, the only problem is they have nothing on them worth watching... Visit the voom site and you will see their HD lineup is padded with homemade HD content nobody cares about.

Add to that their SD channels look like 56K WMP fees with horrible artifacts and you wonder why they bothered to include SD channels at all...

Sorry to say this was a bad piurchase on my part, not time to see if they will honor their money back guarantee.

Are you sure you signed up for Voom, you say "Vool" in the post? :lol:

[DarrellP]

I'll be VOOMing this Saturday, can't wait. I've been viewing the listings at Gist Tv and I think they have an awesome offering. I just hope their SD is better than Dish. I went with the $0 down for a dual receiver install.

Are you sure you signed up for Voom, you say "Vool" in the post?
Actually, he's "drooling" over his "VOOM", hence the "VOOL".

[Torvald78]

Oh boy, great typing eh... yeah I mean Voom, there is no Vool tmk...

Yeah I have to say their SD really sucks, DishNetwork is better.

I can't get over how boring the rush, rave, treasure, gallery, and moov channels are. They are so limited in content.

Also I did not know ahead of time the cinema 10 channels show the same 10 movies all damn day... and they are mostly from the 60s and 70s. Sorry but I'm young and don't want that stuff, I want crispy modern HD stuff.

The only channels I like ar the HD News channel and Discovery.

The Voom menu system is very clean looking but not smooth to navigate, and the info screen is super limited. Oh Dish it will show the year actors and a description. While watching a show you get description only, and have to manuver the clinky guide to see the year of production and a critique (stars).

Good thing they have money back, the installers and customer service were all nice so props to them, but this service is not ready for my HD expectations.

[Nick]

Welcome, Torvald78. :wave:

By signing in, you have just increased the credibility and value of your comments by 1000%. Thanks for your report. I am considering VOOM, and what you have to say as a V* sub is valuable information to me.

Thanks again,

Nick

BTW, any relation to Linus Torvald?

[MadDogMike]

Sorry to say this was a bad piurchase on my part, not time to see if they will honor their money back guarantee.

Don't they install an OTA antenna as well? I don't suppose you can keep that if you drop the service, eh?

[Torvald78]

Hello All,

Well I called an canceld today, and I feel a lot better about that decision, in retro spect I should have canceled the day I got it, but I wanted to give it time to avoid a rash decision... Well this was a week of re-affirmation that Voom is not for me.

Their repeat movies from the 60/70s and weird filler channels have no value to me. I love my Food Network, Cartoon Network (Sealab 2021!) TechTV, and Fuse... the occasional HBO special and I'm a happy camper.

Special note to everyone out there, the money back guarantee is for ppl that purchase the hardware only, if you lease the hardware with the $0 down special you still owe a prorated balance... whatever. I considter this a lesson learned. The guy I called on the phone to cancel actually critiqued my viewing preferences and explained the filler content I so dislike is the cadillac of tv, their lame ballet and fasih shows, well I don't care that crap bites. And I bet the kind of youth that buy HD tvs don't like that stuff either. He explained once he saw I got the $39.90/mo package he understood why I canceled and proceeded to push the $79/mo pack, hahaha... nope!

Based on my experience I will be shocked if Voom is successful, with their "exclusive" lineup I expect this company will die off pretty fast.

I did get an OTA, but I expect that and the receiver all go back. It did not get any local channels reliably anyway, I only got it to connect once at 5:30 am and never again... and the stream was just the local news in DTV.

[willy]

INteresting viewpoint!

All are ready to crown VOOM the king of HD... even if it sucks apparently. Those that drool and want to sign up for the quantity, not quality... wonder if others agree with you. Anyone?

[ramcm7]

INteresting viewpoint!

All are ready to crown VOOM the king of HD... even if it sucks apparently. Those that drool and want to sign up for the quantity, not quality... wonder if others agree with you. Anyone?

Quality is a loaded term, willy. Quality in Voom's case can describe the HD signal, or the channel content. I have not gone HD yet, but am expecting to do so in the next two or three months. I am a D* subscriber and am considering their $99 offer for long time customers (see other threads.) I am also considering the E* (HDTV in a box, DHA) and Voom offers. Each service offers something different that interests me, but currently, Voom offers the weakest lineup to meet my interests. (D*: NFLST in HD?, E*: cricket PPV, V*: more HD channels) We will see in a couple months which way I go. Wish me luck! ;)

[DarrellP]

As a longtime Disher and a new Voomer, I think the SD on Voom is better than Dish. I could not watch Dish SD on my projector, even the Premium channels sucked. With Voom, they look more like an upconverted analog signal but still retain picture definition unlike Dish, whose compression sucks the features out of faces and leaves them a featureless blob. At least now I can watch an occassional SD show (like the SI swimsuit edition on Spike!).

I kept the Dish HD pack and will keep it since it looks like Voom will not be getting HDNET.

[Torvald78]

Hello Darrel,

I'm not sure you you can say that... I have a 53" tv and the SD looked so bad on voom i was laughing my butt off, how hwo I asked could the HD service have suck crummy SD...? Makes NO sense.

Add the that the filler HD programming, and I don't care but a boring show as cripy as hell is still borning... glad I canceled, too bad the money back guaratee did not work. And they charged the full bill not the prorate they promised.

[Ken_F]

I got my HDTV to watch HDTV and DVD, with the occasional SD. I did not spend $4000 on a DLP and $6000 on a projector to watch SD with the occasional HD. The only SD I watch daily is the news, and the picture on those channels seem comparable to what I got on Comcast and DirecTV.

I get 10 HDTV premium movie channels on Voom for $10/mo less than all SD premiums on DirecTV, and $20/mo less than my local Comcast cable. I don't care much about the "exclusive channels," but it's nice alternative content to have when there is nothing I want to see on HBO-HD, HBOW-HD, Cinemax-HD, CinemaxW-HD, SHO-HD, SHOW-HD, Starz-HD, StarzW-HD, TMC-HD, and EncoreHD.

[DarrellP]

Hello Darrel,

I'm not sure you you can say that... I have a 53" tv and the SD looked so bad on voom i was laughing my butt off, how hwo I asked could the HD service have suck crummy SD...? Makes NO sense.

Add the that the filler HD programming, and I don't care but a boring show as cripy as hell is still borning... glad I canceled, too bad the money back guaratee did not work. And they charged the full bill not the prorate they promised.
I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. I agree that SOME SD channels on Voom totally suck, but the ones I watch, like TCM, IFC and some others are much better than Dish.

To each his own said the man as he kissed the cow. :rolleyes:

[calikarim]

Just a thought keep both dish and voom. I get the hd package for 9.99 and still keep dish for my international channels. I have the va va va voom package, and i think it is great especially moov channel, it takes you around the world. Just remember voom offers 39 channels in hd in just FOUR months of service what wil it be like in a year. Dish for 5.7 billion in revenue just has nine channels. I say keep both , hd is a lot cheaper on voom, especially premius channels like showtime and hbo, for which i am paying $23 on dish but are included in my package, plus there are multiple hd and showtime channels :)

[Clinton Fields]

Well I got Vool yesterday, and yes the HD channles look really good, the only problem is they have nothing on them worth watching... Visit the voom site and you will see their HD lineup is padded with homemade HD content nobody cares about.

Add to that their SD channels look like 56K WMP fees with horrible artifacts and you wonder why they bothered to include SD channels at all...

Sorry to say this was a bad piurchase on my part, not time to see if they will honor their money back guarantee.On the SD side of things, you may have a valid argument, but on the HD side, You are off your rocker. There is no other Service out there that has more HD, padded or not.

[MDD]

I have both E* (long time)and Voom (one week). I thought I might replace E* with Voom as the PVR 921 has taken so long to get here, but the SD is so awful I can't watch it. More details:

SD has major noise, lip sync problems, unwatchable PQ in my opinion.
The manual is a marketing piece with no mention of the critical "red button".
Satellite is so low on West Coast that it couldn't be mounted on a vertical plane. On a horizontal plane the signal is an 82.
HD pixelization is common, especially at channel change.
Dropouts are relatively commonplace.
Remote and menu are very user unfriendly with little information or difficult to access information.
Graphics on HD News weather channel cut in half at top of screen.
There are more choices of HD channels on Voom.
Voom customer service is quite good. Knowledgeable well intended people, but I double that I'll keep Voom.

[calikarim]

I just got voom today and boy i have never watched so much tv. Starz HD, Pay per view movies in HD, dish only shows Amazon, no moviess, Encore HD, even the Cinema 10 has some great movies. Best of all the quality of picture is mindblowing. All the channels are crystal clear, and the SD channels rock. The picture is not grainy, it is well defined. The remote is slow, especially changing channels, but the hd variety is stagerring. i would watch hd even if they show paint drying, i now have a fashion channel , travel channel, all in hd. Voom rocks, i cancelled HBO showtime HD on dish and save $25. It is INCLUDED in the va va voom pachage for $79. I love saving money and having more choice. Watch Rave Channel Usher in High Def and 5.1 Surround , Brittney spears in HD and 5.1 who says voom exclusive channels are boring they got to be out of their mind LOVE VOOM, Thank YOU :)