Alright, this is sort of a message with questions and sort of a message for me to gripe a little. Gotta get it off my chest.
Been Vooming for over a year, not the most senior Voomer but certainly not a junior Voomer. I've been through a few changes--all for the good (except the price increase
). I've got no problem dealing with many of the minor issues we've had to deal with over the last year (and more for some of you). However, recently, I've just been not overly thrilled with what I'm getting from Voom.
Now, let me clarify this. I'm not unhappy with Voom programming, in fact, I love the programming I'm getting. Other than a little sports, I have everything I want/need from Voom. I need to stop watching so many sports anyway...
What I'm unhappy with is the fact that many of the SD movie channels still look like I'm watching a movie through a screen door. Now, I understand this is a compression issue but it's horrible. There are many movie channels I will not even watch because it's so distracting to view a movie this way. Just last night I was watching, "A Bronx Tale," on Cinemax and, although the whole movie wasn't bad, there were parts which were looking pretty bad. One other time earlier in the summer last year I tried watching, "The Big Red One," on AMAX (I believe) and I had to turn it off because it was so bad. And that's one of my alltime favorite WWII movies.
I've not posted this before but I've read posts to this effect in the past so I'm guessing many of you may be experiencing the same things. It's probably not noticable to some of you as I know many of you watch only HD channels. Well I watch (mainly) HD channels but sometimes there's just nothing I want to watch on those channels so I'm forced to view SD channels. Anyway, are any of you still seeing this?
Also, I KNOW we've all complained about the sparklies on many channels (History Channel and Comedy Central seem to be the worst). We've been told Voom is working on this (for months) but the sparklies are still there. Anyone have any knowledge of whether Voom might decide to fix this problem?
Recently my original stb seems to have failed. I can no longer receive Food Network or HGTV (was receiving them just fine). I'm now getting an Access Code error and after a few calls to Voom tech support they say they must replace the STB. So I decided to install an additional receiver for the $49 deal they offered us. The guy shows up with an STB for the new install but not for the other one. This STB does not work either.
My complaint is I now have two defective STBs. At least the one in my home theater works (except for Food Network and HGTV) but the additional one does not work at all. Tells me it is not authorized. After numerous tries with Voom hitting the box it still doesn't work. Now I've got to have someone else come out. Anyone else seen these two problems?
On the surface, each problem is fairly minor, however, when I'm looking at the whole picture I have to ask myself, is this worth $100 a month? Until now, I've always been able to say to myself it's worth $100 a month but I'm starting to wonder. The only thing keeping me with Voom (honestly) is DTV doesn't have what I want, Dish doesn't have what I want and the cable company does not either. Voom is 99% of what I want but I'm growing weary of the problems I've been having (won't go into the OTA issues)--most of which are Voom's fault.
Ok, sorry for bringing everyone down.
The Rickster
Been Vooming for over a year, not the most senior Voomer but certainly not a junior Voomer. I've been through a few changes--all for the good (except the price increase

Now, let me clarify this. I'm not unhappy with Voom programming, in fact, I love the programming I'm getting. Other than a little sports, I have everything I want/need from Voom. I need to stop watching so many sports anyway...

What I'm unhappy with is the fact that many of the SD movie channels still look like I'm watching a movie through a screen door. Now, I understand this is a compression issue but it's horrible. There are many movie channels I will not even watch because it's so distracting to view a movie this way. Just last night I was watching, "A Bronx Tale," on Cinemax and, although the whole movie wasn't bad, there were parts which were looking pretty bad. One other time earlier in the summer last year I tried watching, "The Big Red One," on AMAX (I believe) and I had to turn it off because it was so bad. And that's one of my alltime favorite WWII movies.
I've not posted this before but I've read posts to this effect in the past so I'm guessing many of you may be experiencing the same things. It's probably not noticable to some of you as I know many of you watch only HD channels. Well I watch (mainly) HD channels but sometimes there's just nothing I want to watch on those channels so I'm forced to view SD channels. Anyway, are any of you still seeing this?
Also, I KNOW we've all complained about the sparklies on many channels (History Channel and Comedy Central seem to be the worst). We've been told Voom is working on this (for months) but the sparklies are still there. Anyone have any knowledge of whether Voom might decide to fix this problem?
Recently my original stb seems to have failed. I can no longer receive Food Network or HGTV (was receiving them just fine). I'm now getting an Access Code error and after a few calls to Voom tech support they say they must replace the STB. So I decided to install an additional receiver for the $49 deal they offered us. The guy shows up with an STB for the new install but not for the other one. This STB does not work either.
My complaint is I now have two defective STBs. At least the one in my home theater works (except for Food Network and HGTV) but the additional one does not work at all. Tells me it is not authorized. After numerous tries with Voom hitting the box it still doesn't work. Now I've got to have someone else come out. Anyone else seen these two problems?
On the surface, each problem is fairly minor, however, when I'm looking at the whole picture I have to ask myself, is this worth $100 a month? Until now, I've always been able to say to myself it's worth $100 a month but I'm starting to wonder. The only thing keeping me with Voom (honestly) is DTV doesn't have what I want, Dish doesn't have what I want and the cable company does not either. Voom is 99% of what I want but I'm growing weary of the problems I've been having (won't go into the OTA issues)--most of which are Voom's fault.
Ok, sorry for bringing everyone down.
The Rickster