What would you pay for VOOM DVR?

[Ken F]

Please try to stay stay on topic guys - reasonable costs for DVR.

For those that voted to buy the DVR at $799-$899...you rather buy at $799 with a $4.99/mo DVR fee, or $899 with no DVR fee?

 

[bbtkd]

You'll be in for a big surprise then. It will be many years before the majority of the channels in the TOP50 / Total Choice are available in HD. Cable and satellite aren't likely to gain capacity for a significant number of HD channels before 2007-2008. Content providers won't offer HD channels until they can be offered by multichannel video distributers.

For satellite, DBS spectrum is mostly spent. Unless the FCC elects to allow 4.5 degree DBS spacing, there won't be significant new bandwidth for HD until Ka in 2007-2009. Most cable networks won't have bandwidth for substantial new HD until they transition their analog channels (the extended basic tiers) to digital, thereby reclaiming capacity.

What I said was that everything would be AVAILABLE in HD, not that all of the cable and sat carriers will provide them in HD. In other words, why would HBO and other channels continue with the expense of programming and distributing SD and HD when then can drop SD, forcing the cable and sat companies to convert HD to SD if they want to continue with SD. That way the cable and sat companies can convert when they are ready - the programming will already be HD.

 

[Ken F]

bbtkd,

With very few exceptions, content providers don't launch channels unless they have contracts or tentative agreements for carriage in place well beforehand.

 

[bfdtpkt]

I, too, believe the prices are too high.......

why not make it available to all VOOM subscribers for cost + 10%????

A.) VOOM would still make a small profit, but more important,

B.) It would enhance the viewers enjoyment of VOOM and probably assure much longer monthly service due to the fact that it's a tremendous benefit to all.

 

[stevesmall]

I have this to say, VOOM HAS BEEN A MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT TO ME>
lousy service, terrible installers, boxes have too many issues and worse of all they told me it would be 17 days before i could have a technician out here to fix this thing.
I canceled and now i have waited 23 days for a refund, i cant think of a better way to spend my money. how about you ?

 

[wasch_24]

I have this to say, VOOM HAS BEEN A MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT TO ME>
lousy service, terrible installers, boxes have too many issues and worse of all they told me it would be 17 days before i could have a technician out here to fix this thing.
I canceled and now i have waited 23 days for a refund, i cant think of a better way to spend my money. how about you ?

Dude,
Your still here, bug off already. Sorry you don't like Voom maybe you should start a new thread about it. Then you can try and hijack your own thread.

About the DVR,
How do these things work. I've never had a DVR/PVR. I still use a VCR to tape the races when I'm not home. Can you just set and forget, can you record one thing while watching another (I hope so)? Is it going to be a seperate unit or is it going to be integrated into the STB?

 

[DarrellP]

I have this to say, VOOM HAS BEEN A MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT TO ME>
lousy service, terrible installers, boxes have too many issues and worse of all they told me it would be 17 days before i could have a technician out here to fix this thing.
I canceled and now i have waited 23 days for a refund, i cant think of a better way to spend my money. how about you ?

It's the best money I ever spent, great install, great service, great picture, rock solid boxes since the last upgrade, great CSR's.

 

[Lobstah]

This is actually an interesting discussion.
Consider that in today's market, the "PVR" space is pretty much dominated by Tivo. With Tivo, you need to buy the box, say $299? and then you need to subscribe to the service, either monthly, or by paying a one time $299 lifetime fee, which GOES WITH THE BOX, not with the person. So let's say you do the monthly. After paying $299, you NOW get to pay $15/mo, and that's for SD programming.

I would jump on the $19.95 with VaVaVoom programming in a minute.

Lob

 

[skakusha]

HD DVR Prices: Look at Tivo's Pricing Models and History

I ordered Voom last week, but I have been with D* for many, many years. I bought the DirecTV Tivo within 6 months of when if first came out, and it is still up and running. It was $499, and Sony announced a $250 rebate. Long story short I bought an open box, had issues with Circuit City customer support, and I paid $49 out of pocket after rebate. Cheaper then a VCR. I was lucky, but I would have paid the full $299, without a problem for the convenience of Tivo. I also paid the $299 lifetime membership.

Today, those same (non-HD) boxes are being sold for $49 to new customers, with free DVR service if you have the top of the line programming package. $4.99 with any other programming package. To get to my point, 4+ years later and I still have the box, and it works better than my newer Tivo. Also, since Voom does not have a PVR, I am keeping D*'s basic package with local channels. I have 2 Tivo's and they are fantastic. DVR's are great! I travel 4 days out of the week for work, so it is a must have. . .

I thought about the HD Tivo (I actually had a pre-order), but felt that $1,000 was too much, especially if you read the posts in the Tivo Community Forum. The same thing is happening to the new HD Tivo users, as the first users. Mixed reviews and paying a higher premium for a new product.

Upon conversation with CSR's at D*, and all the research I have done, I decided to sit on the sidelines and wait. The competition fo customers will benefit us all. Multiple resources predicted that that the HD Tivo's will be going bewteen $499 - $399 before the end of the year (no monthly service fee for high-end programming packages). DVD burning HD Tivo's are in the works, and non-Hughes boxes will come out after 6 months of launch. You know what that means. . .PRICE DROPS! By the way, think about what you are asking the DVR's to do, in conjunction with the prices. You can buy computers for $499 now.

Thinking along those lines, I am hoping Voom will do somthing similar, thin clients excluded of course. I would say $100 to $199 for those. Thoughts?

Anyways, I switched to Voom becuase of the HD offering, and $1,000 pays for a lot of months of Voom, and if the Voom DVR's deliver, I am leaving D*. The way I structured my D* and VaVa Voom packages, I will pay the same I pay d* now and have the best fo both worlds.

Sorry for the long post. I hope this helps.

 

[Ken F]

wasch,

About the DVR,
How do these things work. I've never had a DVR/PVR. I still use a VCR to tape the races when I'm not home. Can you just set and forget, can you record one thing while watching another (I hope so)? Is it going to be a seperate unit or is it going to be integrated into the STB?

It will be one integrated STB. Think of it as two VOOM STBs integrated into a single box with a built-in hard drive. It will have two satellite tuners and two off-air tuners, so you can record any two programs at once, record one program while watching another, or watch two different programs simultaneously on separate TVs. The DVR will provide "trick play" functions such as pause, fast forward, rewind, and slow motion. I assume you have a DVD player; these buttons function in the same way.

It will also have a button on the remote for 7-second skip back (instant replay) and possibly 30-second skip forward (to skip commercials). The box will buffer (continuously record) live content, so you can pause live programming and resume it 30-60 minutes later where you left off. You can also use instant replay or rewind functions to any point within the last 30-60 minutes on the channel you are watching (of course, you can only rewind to the point when you first tuned the channel).

The original digital signal from VOOM will be saved to the hard disk, so there will never be any degradation with the recordings. The quality of recorded content will be the same as if it were live.

 

[wasch_24]

wasch,It will be one integrated STB. Think of it as two VOOM STBs integrated into a single box with a built-in hard drive. It will have two satellite tuners and two off-air tuners, so you can record any two programs at once, record one program while watching another, or watch two different programs simultaneously on separate TVs. The DVR will provide "trick play" functions such as pause, fast forward, rewind, and slow motion. I assume you have a DVD player; these buttons function in the same way.

It will also have a button on the remote for 7-second skip back (instant replay) and possibly 30-second skip forward (to skip commercials). The box will buffer (continuously record) live content, so you can pause live programming and resume it 30-60 minutes later where you left off. You can also use instant replay or rewind functions to any point within the last 30-60 minutes on the channel you are watching (of course, you can only rewind to the point when you first tuned the channel).

The original digital signal from VOOM will be saved to the hard disk, so there will never be any degradation with the recordings. The quality of recorded content will be the same as if it were live.

Holy shimolies, this made sound dumb but I never realized you could do all that with a DVR. At first I thought I wasn't interested in a one but know I am reconsidering, especially if they are user friendly.

 

[TransAm02]

I would probably pay $15.00 a month rental max just because i am already paying $107.40 a month for the $79.95 package and 2 recievers. And i also plan on adding the spice channel when that comes out on voom, the playboy channel is to mild for me. Hehehe!

 

[czarcat]

I don't have Voom yet. My install is this Sat.

However, I'm currently with Directv and use 3 Tivo's. I have 2 Series 2 80hr units and the Sony DirecTivo unit. I pay about $31/mo in Tivo fees. To gain DVR services on Voom, I'd gladly pay as much.

The only thing really holding me back from abandoning my DirecTV service is the Tivo. I can only stomach live TV if it's HDTV. Other than that, if it's not on my Tivo, I don't watch it.

The PVR service that Voom has announced is very enticing. I'm approaching this like a previous poster stated. Rather than buying an HD Tivo, I'm sinking some of that $1,000 into Voom service.

Wish me well on the install.

 

[bradley]

Voom DVR

There has been no additional available information as to the progress of the development of the Voom DVR at this point. Voom: Jan 04

Some features I'd like to see added on the DVR…

a) Multiple off air tuners
b) At least 250 Mb hard drive
c) Stretch format with multiple setting such as Toshiba (use dvi; hate fat stretch)
d) Smaller over-all foot print.

Ever since encryption was added picture quality appears to have diminished.

 

[slacker9876]

I did not vote in the poll, but it needs to be opened with more options;

$500 (a fair price)
I want a TiVo, not a Voom DVR
15.99 with Basic ... lets be real 30.00/mo to tape HD?
FREE with VaVaVoom 1-yr commit

Anyway, just my 2 cents.

There seems to be a lack of respect for the cost of these boxes, especially by those who own D* HD Tivos. The D* HD Tivo, could not possibly have more than a $500 cost including R&D. It's the same HDVR2 with a bigger hard disk and HD outputs. As previous posts have metioned the 3rd gen chips are availabel for like $18.00 a pop! Ya know what ... I pay for your service ... comp me the hardware or sell it at cost ... I am not asking you to lose money, but don't rip me off!

Back on the poll, I would pay $499 if Voom promised to be in busniess for 1 year (how's that for a commitment). Also I would lease @ 19.99/mo with no commitment tops, and I would EXPECT one for 4.99/mo with VaVaVoom. I would expect dual SAT and dual OTA tuners and STABLE software.

In all honesty, Cable Cos are rolling out thier DVR's now. DVR's are a niche market like VCR's were in 1980, but in 2014, everbody will have one and it will be 100x better than what we have today.

 

[Ken F]

slacker,

I think you have some misconceptions about the hardware used in these boxes. You may want to see this post.

You should be careful about reaching conclusions based on price of current DVR products. For example, DirecTV previously indicated that was taking a ~$200 loss on every DirecTivo sold. The box may sell for $99, but it's actual cost is well north of that. Tivo also sells their single-tuner Series2 boxes at a loss -- they make their money on the monthly fee. Of course, over time, component prices do fall, reducing costs. The current trend is also toward component-level integration, which helps to reduce both component and engineering costs.

The $18 price you note is roughly the cost of a single off-air tuner or a single satellite tuner. VOOM has announced that their DVR will feature four tuners (two OTA, two satellite). The hard drive adds $175 to the cost. The box needs a DVI transmitter and HD output parts (component, DVI, etc). The extra memory and processing requirements also add cost. The R&D, marketing, and support costs all must be distributed across a much smaller user base -- they aren't going to sell a million HDTV DVRs anytime soon.

 

[slacker9876]

okay, so taking the facts as you have laid them out ... $450 ... no contract. The point is consumers do not care. I don't even know anyone that doesn't have a TiVo and most of us have Total Choice Platimum. Voom should have hit the market with a DVR if they want that success.

FYI the boxes are MIPS not AMD processors ...

 

[Ken F]

slacker,

Dish Network, Moxi, and others use Intel-compatible processors in their DVRs.

 

[vinnyv07]

This really depends for me. Currently I am all maxed out with bills to cable, Directv and VOOM. Voom I pay $52....Directv I pay $42 and Time Warner I pay $45 for Roadrunner. I cant afford the extra price tag for the DVR , although I would really like to have one. I work 2 jobs and Im not even home enough to enjoy my tv. But if VOOM adds a couple of ch's that my family wants then I would dump Directv and get Voom at the top package. But, they have to have the clients ready for use because I need service at 4 tv sets.

 

[MitchB]

I think $14.95/mo with 2-year VaVaVoom commitment is an excellent deal. DVR is a VaVaVoom enabler for me; it makes much better use of the extra channels if you can see stuff when you want. You should lease the equipment anyway. Technology is moving increasingly fast - in 2 years you'll want and need a newer box. I'm currently leasing the STB at 9.95 now. So basically if I upgrade to VaVaVoom, they give me a totally kick-ass HD DVR for only 5 bucks a month more. Sign me up!