Memoirs of an Ex Voomer

[ricard2798]

Well after over a month with voom... I finally got my marriage to Voom anulled (thank God for no commitment). Anyways, Perhaps my experience can serve others, so here is my assesment of the Voom satellite service.

First of, my installation and set up were perfect. the guy was on time, installed my equipment extremely well, etc. The only defficient part was that the Over the Air antena barely got any locals... but I live next to an airport, So i knew beforehand that the installer would not be able to do it perfect. Anyways, I got my service, and it was all good. Only thing that had me unhappy was that i set up a phone line because it was required, jsut to find out it was not (60 bucks down the drain, thats 40 for set up and 20 for basic phoen service).

The first few days( about a week) the programming was acceptable. Me and the family enjoyed the the Animania channel, discovery channel, Rave, etc... and some of the regular definition channels. I wish i had the premuim channels, but the cost was prohibitive.

Then after the first week, it was reality settling in, we only watched about a couple of channels of the Hd at most... primarily animania for my son ( I will misss that damn good channel). Everything else is filler material in my opinion.
Then things got worse, i had to be reseting my box constantly. And the program guides takes forever to show up after a reset. I came heard and heard that some channels might be added soon... well with the exception of equator HD, none came.

So i gave in, and decided to call Direct Tv (yeah thats me going to the darkside)... and look at what they offered. They would be giving me "Para todos ultra special" for 34.95 for 6 months, then it would go up to 39.95. In addition i get free SHOWTIME and HBO for 2 dollars for 6 months, then I loose my showtime and get HBO for 12 a month), And I also get my Hd channels for 10 bucks. Thats a great package for less than 50 bucks. And also, NO COMMITMENT!!! (I had old equipment) i was like wow, these people are getting pretty agressive. So yes, I am sitting with darth vader now
One final thing, the day they came to take the Voom erquipment out, the company sent the worst mannered riff raff they could find. (I guess the two isntallers were debating each otehrs sexuality while uninstalling my dish... All I know is that I wanted to elave ASAP). Bu I know thats not vooms fault.

In conclussion, Voom has excellent service (even though i am crossing my fingers that they do not keep billing me, as it has happened with otehr countless people), andthe picture quality is great, but dtvs HD is also good enought (in fact i would at times say its better). Yet, their lack of programing and promotional offers makes it sink in the wake of competitors.

I sincerely hope they get better, and maybe then ill switch back.. but for now, everyone in my household is glad I went back to DTV.

 

[Dvlos]

Hey that's great, enjoy HDNet and standard channels.

 

[wbuffetta]

You Will Love All The SD Channels D* Has.
You Know What They Say "One Step Foward, Two Steps Back"

 

[vurbano]

There are plenty of directional antennas working just fine around airports picking up all locals.

 

[TechCop]

If you consider all but Animania "filler channels"

...then I can't think of a single reason for you to stay with VOOM. Different strokes...
I can see how the reset problem would be annoying. I've not experienced that in my 3 months as a voom subscriber.

 

[ricard2798]

Yeah, I know i know.
Thats why my article tried to be as neutral and fair as possible. i will be the first to admit that I WILL MISS animania (and so will my kid). If there is a channel that amde the decission tought was that one. I probably would have stayed if the sporting events of world soccer would not have been taped stuff... but that is wishful thinking.
But honestly, How many auctions and screen savers can a guy take. And the few channels that have good or decent content, are reminiscent of that PBS loop used to be (at this stage I know all the lyrics to tori amos).
But what i will admit as well is that the video quality in SOME (not all) of the HD channels is stunning. but then again, the quality on DTv is very very comparable.
So in the end the decision was easy because I am paying less (or about the same) than with voom, but I am getting 2 premium sets of channels. And whatever HD I will be missing in Voom, will be compensated with the HD in dtv as well and the 2 premium HD packages.

 

[Tvlman]

Not sure why you bothered coming to VOOM in the first place if you like Standard Definition. That's like buying an FM radio and trying to get AM stations! Oh well, enjoy the cartoons.

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

There are basically 3 differences about Voom which one needs to appreciate in order to appreciate Voom -- 1 - Lots of HD, 2 - Almost no commercials, 3 - Voom content is more like PBS.

If one is perfectly happy with SD picture quality, programming with sit coms, series, talk shows, and edited movies constantly interrupted with car commercials, medicine commercials and fast food commercials, then you really don't need Voom.

For some people (like me) all those ads alone make watching TV unbearable. The Voom exclusives are like a bunch of PBS-like channels (okay, I do see Voom Guy ads, but they are usually funny). Add the premium channels to that, and I have an almost commercial-free source of entertainment. Finally, I get used to all that HD, and SD becomes unacceptable.

If I ever decide to give up Voom, it will be to give up TV, because I am spoiled and the alternatives (as they are today) are not alternatives.

 

[Madtown HD Junkie]

Hmmmm

switching back to Dtv....??? I had them for a long time and even had them at the same time as voom until recently. I think there PQ on DHDT via Dtv might be slightly better and there are some issues with glimmer on Equator Hd etc... if you have a HD TV how can you be happy the selection Dtv offers you? Only get HDNet, HDNet movies, ESPNHD, DHDT and maybe the cbs stuff. NFL ticket(reason I got Dtv) is great but will not be in HD this season. For $40 I get many more HD channels and yes some suck....Moov, some of the moivie channels, auctions, etc... But how can you beat that???

thanks for hte honest feedback but in my opinion Voom is the best option for HD content even though there is some growing pains admittedly.


gl

 

[luke637]

NFL ticket(reason I got Dtv) is great but will not be in HD this season.

Not in HD? is this wrong?

Animania? See, besides MOOV, EVERY exclusive Voom channel has at least one person that enjoys it!

 

[jimboeau]

This is incorrect. There will be over 65 games in HD.

 

[Madtown HD Junkie]

This is incorrect. There will be over 65 games in HD.

OK i was wrong but I was coming from the thought that they should all be available in HD not just over 65 in a whole season.

I want them all in HD !!!!! :shocked

thanks for the info I did not see that before....might have to reactivate the Dtv for FB season.

 

[ricard2798]

Thanks for all the great feedback.

Let me clarify myself, since it seems perhaps I miscommunicated. I did not say (or wanted to say) that I like standard deffinition better (come on, not even my grandma is that crazy). What I wanted to say was that the IMAGE quality of the Hd content in DTV is very comparable to that of voom. Let me also add, that the standard definition content looks just the same to me on both services.

Second, the cartoon channel that I WILL MISS is in Voom Hd (called animania). I ment to say that this channel made my departure decision tought cause once I ma using dtv again, I will not be able to get this channel.

Anyways, I think the heart of the matter for my possition on Voom vs DTV is somewhere along the lines of what Madtown HD says about "how cone someone be satisfied with the limited content of DTV HD vs what voom offers". ANd my response, and again, the central point of my argument was, that even thought voom offers 21 channels of non premium HD content, to me (and this is a personal preference) I only enjoyed like 4 of them. So if you compare this to the HD channels I get in DTV, It is about the same, sicne the other 17 HD channels from voom hardly had any thing that was compelling to me.

Finally, 1080iBeVuMin statrements hit the mark in the sense that there is no commercials on most of vooms offerings. I have to agree totally with him, and could only wish more channels (both HD and sd) would follow suit. Yet, again, when a channel repeats the same program over and over again (due to limited available content, but i bet that will change with time) you are somewhat let down by it. it is similar to my experience with over the Air PBS. I thought the PBS demo loops were incredible becasue of the excellent video quality. yet, after 3 weeks, i did nto care that much due to the repetitioiusness (wonder if thats a word) of the content. Now, on the otehr hand, I love HBO and showtime (becasue there is always something current and new).

Anyways, in the end VOOM is an aquired taste... like scargot. Its pricy and hard to find, but its extraordinarily satisfying (specially for those who like it)..... and DTV HD is more of like a great steak... not as fancy nor delectable... but A great steak

ooh, and Sd... well thats just like going to mcdonalds

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

Anyways, in the end VOOM is an aquired taste... like scargot. Its pricy and hard to find, but its extraordinarily satisfying (specially for those who like it)..... and DTV HD is more of like a great steak... not as fancy nor delectable... but A great steak

ooh, and Sd... well thats just like going to mcdonalds

Interesting analogy. Seems like you have given a fair and balanced personal evaluation.

We are still sorry to see anybody leave escargot... er, I mean Voom.