Colorado Voomers

[slacker9876]

Nice to be back! Yeah I'll be here for at least a few months now, this has been a hard sell to the wife ... I think once the DVR hits and she is watching days of our lives in HD she will mellow. I have some issues to but they're not anything voom can help with, OTA is OTA, without a national feed for HD it is what it is. Still no ABC here.

I did move from wireless internet to comcast yesterday 3000Kbps and from talking to the installer 6000Kbps is coming by the end of the year along with HD locals. So then I can use voom as my "high end" content provider.

 

[The Stone Man]

SpecialK--any luck with new antenna and ABC?

 

[slacker9876]

slacker9876......
Saw in other threads where you were ready to say adios, but got "retained". It's good to see that Customer Service made a good effort to retain a knowledgeable customer. Good to have you back.

Ahhhh .. I ended up bolting anyway, but will be follwing the forums still. It's bad when it is FREE and I wont take it LOL

 

[quincy]

Did anyone watch Discovering Denver last night on DiscoveryHD? it wasn't that good but it was in HD!

 

[The Stone Man]

I didn't watch it, but I hope you saw my reply to the time when you asked if I was blasting you (I wasn't).

 

[quincy]

No hard feelings. I didn't want you to think i was coming off as someone who thinks the world should revolve around them. and i didn't want to strike a nerve with you which is the last thing i want to do

 

[SpecialK]

Stone Man, sorry for the delayed response - I've been spending less time on the PC lately due to all the eyecandy I've been watching. Anyway the installers are coming on Monday to setup a better antenna and I'm hoping for good results. I'm happy with my Voom - the quality is good and there is enough variety to keep me interested, even if there are a lot of repeats. It even worked perfectly through all the thunderstorms this last week. Noticed no difference. I'll give an update after I get the new antenna.

 

[The Stone Man]

OK SpecialK. The new antenna solved my only remaining problem, so I hope they can solve yours. Something strange is going on, though. I still have version 5.68, but now I've noticed the sparklies are gone. I used to see them when I brought up the program guide, and they appeared only at the top of the picture in the little box when the TV display went to the small version in the upper right corner.

Now they are completely gone. I think I read somewhere that this problem was related to software, so it makes me think that Voom is releasing software changes, but they are not calling it a full release.

 

[x1hdtv]

Hope all of you guys have a wonderful Fathers day. I was treated to a 51" Hitachi. I have been using an X1 projector which I think looks great, but this is just awesome. I put this in the family room. Anyway now I have to feed a 50' component cable back to the theatre room to feed the projector.
Do any of you know if you can run the DVI and component outputs simultaneously?

 

[The Stone Man]

X1hdtv--nice Father's Day present. DVI and component outputs are 'hot' at the same time, so you can run them concurrently.

 

[x1hdtv]

Thanks Stone, just asking before running cable. Are you still getting channel 7? I am thinking of trying an amp to see if it might help me.
I noticed yesterday no channel 12.

 

[GEBrown]

Another Colorado Voomer (almost)

Hello Everyone

I discovered this site today from the AVS HD forum.

I am currently on Comcast HD - I have a 56' Samsung DLP. I am buying a house in Province Center (Highlands Ranch). As near as I can tell I am just south of where The Stone Man lives (I am south of County Line, east of Colorado).

My question has to do with the OTA HD antennas and HOA's. I know they can't ban satellite dishes, but what about HD antennas? They can still restrict those, right? The reason I ask is it seems The Stone Man had to go with a bigger OTA antenna and it doesn't sound like it was a "stealth" install. I'd hate to start off bad with the HOA.

Also, do you think it will fly if I order VOOM on July 5th and request that the installation be delayed until the 21st? I don't move in, until the 18th, but I'd like to take advantage of the current promotion. Unless "someone" has an idea what the next promotion might be after July 5th???

Anyway, this is a VERY useful site for VOOMers.

Thanks for all the good info.

 

[GEBrown]

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask - from what I have read, if I want to get 4 STB's I will have to supply my own 2x4 switch. Where are people getting those and for how much?

Thanks again all!!

 

[The Stone Man]

x1hdtv--yes, still getting channel 7. Voom upgraded me to the Winegard PR8800, and now I get 2,4,7,9 and 31, plus a bunch of PBS channels and some other stuff that I never watch.

GEBrown--welcome aboard. I'm off the 5th hole of the South Suburban golf course. East of Colorado, and just north of County Line. Your part of Highlands Ranch should have good LOS for OTA. I first had the Stealth, but could not get channel 7. Voom upgraded me for free, and now I get everything. We have an HOA, but they pretty much ignore the OTA antenna and the dish, since neither is visible from the street. I think if you are up front about what you want to put up, and where it will be, the HOA should not put up much of an argument.

On Voom install, as long as you order by July 5th, that locks in the price. The only magic date is your order date--not the install date. When we thought the expiration date for the latest offer was the end of May, a lot of people ordered before the last day of May, but scheduled an installation later in June. You are free to do the same--order by 7/5, and install when ready. Follow this forum--chances are the $0 down offer might be continued past 7/5. Whatever happens, you will find out about it here first.

Lastly, are you sure you need 4 STB's? If you are, I believe the installer is obligated to run up to 4 cable runs at 125 feet per run, so you could have seperate lines to each of the 4 STB's. In my case, I have 4 TV's running on 1 STB. It means that you watch the same channel on 1 TV as you do on another, but it is just me and my wife at home. Whatever you do--make sure that you know how many STB's you really want. If they have to come back to install additional ones after your initial installation, they ding you for $199 per box.

 

[elite1]

congrats on the new tv, x1hdtv. i was treated to a rotel rsp-1066 pre/pro which is currently in the mail. i'd like to hear about the rest of everybody's av system. amps, dvd players, etc......


also i guess this means i have a yamaha rxv-3300 for sale. i'd sell it to anyone here for $750, otherwise i'm going to put it on ebay.

 

[plyall]

4 STB's

Folks -

I had them install 4 boxes with the notion that I could always de-install one or more later. If I had waited to install the additional boxes, there would have been a per box charge ($199?). They charged me an additional $50 for the last box (reasonable). I was also able to get them to run discrete lines for both the OTA and the satellite (8 all total). Add this to my two other Echostar dishes (110/119 and 61.5), and my house is starting to look like a communications center. We also have 4 dish receivers. Hmm - 8 receivers and two people - overkill? Nah.

I'm basically at Kipling & C-470. At present my OTA is very poor, but I have an appointment to get an upgrade on June 30th.

My install went like clockwork - guys from Point 2 Point did the actual work (subcontracted). The only issue (other than poor OTA) was that they brought a ladder that was too short for my roof (about 40 feet), and left about 10 feet of cable dangling from the antenna. That will also be resolved on June 30.

The VOOM boxes are tied into 4 of the 6 TV's:

Main movie viewing area in the loft:

Sony KDF-60XBR950 rear projection LCD TV 16:9 (via DVI)

Great room:

Sony 36" Vega HDTV 4:3 (via DVI)

Bedroom:

Panasonic 27" SD TV (via S-VHS)

Computer/TV:

ATI Radeon AIW 9700 (via S-VHS)

This comes in amazingly well with downconverted HD material. I have even been able to use the built in PVR functions to capture some surpisingly good stuff in 16:9 SD and checked it out by burning some DVD's and looking at them on the 60".

I really can't wait for the HiDef PVR from VOOM to become available, especially with the capability to do networked PVR's!

 

[SpecialK]

Hi all,

Just had the guys back (King's Systems) to re-do my OTA and I am very pleased. The new antenna is a square looking thing, probably about 16"x16"x6". They mounted it at the apex of my roof on the north end and pointed it a few degrees left of North. Now I get everything at good qulaity - my satellite signal is around 95 and the OTA is around 65. I'm at Highlands Ranch Parkway and Lucent Blvd, pretty high ground. Anyway my hat's off to King's Systems and Voom.

SpecialK

 

[The Stone Man]

SpecialK--sounds like the Winegard PR8800; same as they gave me. Glad to hear that worked for you, as it did for me.

plyall--looking forward to reading more of your posts. If NASA ever moves to Colorado, they will probably link to your house!

 

[GEBrown]

Folks -

I had them install 4 boxes with the notion that I could always de-install one or more later. If I had waited to install the additional boxes, there would have been a per box charge ($199?). They charged me an additional $50 for the last box (reasonable).

Did you have to supply a separate switch for the second 2 STB's?

If so, where did you get yours and how much, if I may ask.

 

[plyall]

Nope - the installers brought everything needed. I think they did install their own switch.