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Voom HDTV (MERGED THREAD) (1 Viewer)

david kennedy

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Has anyone heard of this subscription service. I was at Sears and was interested but they want 750.00$ for the install ,reciever and parts . Sounds kind of steep and don't offer a discount if you want 2 recievers. I was wondering what you guys think about this.
 

Steven Simon

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David,

My friend Gregg Loewen told me about this... Check out www.Voom.com ... It's a new Sat Tv service that provides tons of HD programming, as well as the usual standard channels....


I'm going to wait and here some reviews on this service before I invest good money. DirecTV is ok for now, but could use local HD feeds...
 

Jesse Skeen

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Don't know about this, but think they could've picked a better name- first thing this makes me think of is "This thing wouldn't voom if you put 5000 volts through it!" :)
 

John Geelan

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I'm also interested in Voom since I already have Cablevision's Digital IO Service and upgraded to HDTV will require upgraded TV service.
Voom may fit the bill for better HDTV.
 

Patrick Sun

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Where this thread should go is sort of a slippery thing, but going with the forum area description, it slips in under "offerings of broadcasts and cable-casters". I see no harm is leaving it here for now.
 

Steve Schaffer

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there is a lot of discussion on Voom over at AVS in the HDTV programming section.

For now it's only available at Sears, and most people haven't gotten a good demo of it at their Sears stores.

First consumer installs were scheduled for tomorrow (Oct. 22nd) but all have been delayed 2 weeks until Nov. 4th.

Nobody's actually got it in their homes yet and the Sears demos are almost universally poor, so the verdict will be out on this for about a month.

They have 21 proprietary HD channels including 10 that are rotations of mediocre movies. The other proprietary channels are mostly wallpaper/fluff and upconverted SD.

They have signed on with ShowtimeHD and the upcoming StarzHD, but so far not with HBOHD, HDNet, HDNet movies, ESPNHD, etc.
 

pradike

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May 22, 2003
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I promised I wouldn't say I told you so....

...so I won't.

Please note the following news from Reuters today:

Cable operator Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE:CVC - News) on Thursday said it would spin off its satellite TV platform as well as three television channels, just days after launching the satellite service and saying its costs were uncertain.

Cablevision said the spinoff of Rainbow DBS would also include Rainbow Media properties AMC, the Independent Film Channel and WE: Women's Entertainment. The channels, Cablevision said, would enter into new funding arrangements before the spin-off to operate the satellite business and repay Rainbow debt.

The company did not give a timetable for the spin-off other than to say it plans to begin filing the necessary paperwork "as early as possible in 2004."

Less than two hours after Cablevision announced its plans, Quadrangle Capital Partners, a private equity fund headed by media industry veteran Steven Rattner, said it was exercising its right to sell its preferred stake that it bought for $75 million nearly a year ago.

The company also said it would cancel a $450 million cash contribution to Rainbow DBS and not provide any investment or guarantees of debt to the spun-off businesses after the transaction is completed.

The satellite operation, which carries the commercial name VOOM and offers high-definition broadcasts, has faced skepticism since last spring, when Cablevision announced the service and analysts fretted about the impact it would have on Cablevision's bottom line.

"The amended spin-off plan reflects significantly higher company estimates regarding the funding amounts anticipated due, in part, to a more robust content and delivery strategy for the DBS business," Cablevision said in a statement.

IN A NUTSHELL - Cablevision apparently now realizes HDTV via satellite will cost far them more than expected, and they are separating themselves internally from the Voom and related businesses, with the potential to sell these assets.

This is particularly interesting, since they currently have NO VOOM subscribers or installed customers.

It further reinforces the skepticism many of us had about their business model. The fact that a major venture capitalist for this project is "cashing in his chips" upon the announcement should give us a good idea that Voom may not see the light of day at all.

So I guess we skeptics were not so far off after all....
 

ToddTho

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Mar 9, 2003
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I'm from the Boston area and never heard about this company until today.They ran a full page add in the boston globe.The add said the system can be purchased at Sears,so looks like they are trying to get the word out about their service.Sounds like a tough sell to me,$749 for the equipment then $100 a month for all the channels.They do offer lots of HD channels though.
I would consider it if it was a little cheaper.
 

Gregg Loewen

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my install was also postponed by 2 weeks.

I am currently rethinking my position. $ 1250 ? is a lot of money to drop when I already have 3 HD receivers in the house.

I wish Dish and DTV would be forcoming in their future HD offerings.

Regards

Gregg
 

pradike

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May 22, 2003
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I think there are now a number of folks like you, Gregg, who will wait on the sidelines a few months to see if Voom even lasts for the long term.

There have been countless problems with hardware and installs, and perhaps the future will bring less aggrevation to get this service. They'll also have to do something to enhance the channel offerings (many of their current "HD channels" are pretty lame).

Both D*TV and Dish will expand their HD offerings within the next 6 months as well. Watch for anywhere from 4-6 new HD channels on each in late 1Q or early 2Q 2004.

Best wishes and good luck (watch your wallet)!
 

Gregg Loewen

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hi guys!

Well I jumped in and had the installer come yesterday. He was very nice and ended up spending about 6 hours at my home doing the 2 receiver install

He had not done a Voom install yet, so I was kind of an experiment. Everything went well. My only question was that the satellite signal strength was 22 on a scale of 0-100. The phone tech support person said that anything over 20 was okay. hmmmmm... within 15 minutes of the installer leaving the signal was dipping around 18 and the picture would be lost.

The images I saw were quite good. The interface is nice, and much better than the Dish 6000 and somewhat slower than some of the DTV receivers.

Ill post more when the system is fully functional.

Regards

Gregg
 

Dan Hitchman

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Jun 11, 1999
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Perhaps Charlie Ergen from DISH will buy the satellite space from VOOM to ramp up their HD programming.

Dan
 

FredWal

Auditioning
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Nov 28, 2003
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Hi Dan,

Charlie doesn't need any space from Voom.
Dishnet's new bird is in place at 105 degrees and their superdish is available. And if he needs more space he can always can DTV's leased space from Dishnet.
Actually, isn't it up to the programmers and sponsers to get on the HD bandwagon??

fred
 

LeRoyS

Auditioning
Joined
Mar 3, 2001
Messages
8
I am interested in knowing if anyone has Voom as their satellite provider with HDTV programming. What are the pro/cons with this company? Is it worth the money you spend? I know you may have already done this but I would very much appreciate further information.
 

Jason Harbaugh

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Jul 30, 2001
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There have been quite a few threads on this here, but not a ton of info. They all seem to point you over to avsforum.com

I've been thinking about getting voom, and so far people have been pleased with the quality of the signal, as well as the channels provided with more promised throughout the year. Cable and DirectTV just can't compete with that, from what I've seen.
 

Nick Graham

Screenwriter
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Oct 16, 2001
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I have read they crop any 2:35:1 films to 1:85:1, but they have a horror channel, which intrigues me...in fact a new HD transfer of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre was completed for them recently.
 

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