Paul's Voom HDTV Review

Is Voom TV HDTV HEAVEN?

December 2, 2004  I had been itching for more HD channels for a while.  Although I'd owned my Sony 34" XBR widescreen HDTV (I've only got 6 feet of viewing distance to work with) for about 8 months, the most exciting things I had seen to date through my digital cable were Smart Travels with Rudy Maxa (and Bikini Destinations!) on HD.NET and seeing The Sopranos with my wife on the high definition HBO channel.  Being a huge(ly disappointed) St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan, I had also seen the holy grail for the first time with Fox's excellent HD broadcast of the 2004 MLB World Series.  If I had to see the Boston Red Sox sweep the home team in 4 games, at least I saw it all in high def.  (It was so painful watching the Cardinals poor play losing the first 3 games that I turned down tickets from Mom for Game 4.)  The incredible HD quality from Fox proved to me that at least the cable company CAN pass along incredible HD video, if they choose!  I can see the promise of ESPN HD, but I don't feel that they are taking it seriously enough yet.  (Attention ESPN - enough of the gray bars...it makes me feel like I'm in prison.)  DVD movies such as Finding Nemo and Bruce Almighty played on my Yamaha progressive scan DVD player looked great too, but I've always been a MUCH bigger sports fan than movie fan.

I had seen the Voom commercials.  I received a Voom CD in the mail packaged with one of my home theater magazines.  Once I popped the Voom CD into my PC, I knew it was too late to turn back now.  I went to the Voom.com website.  (Until after I had experienced Voom satellite TV and my local HD channels in perfect high definition for a few weeks, I didn't even know I was going to be writing this review of Voom HDTV.  This Voom review is my way of telling everyone how happy my family and I are with Voom's satellite TV service.)  I placed my order online on Monday, November 1, 2004, paying a small charge of about $50 to install the Voom dish, a HD antenna for local high def stations, and a Voom receiver.  I committed to one year of Va Va Voom satellite TV service, which is Voom's best programming package.  They told me online that my monthly cost of Voom satellite service would be $106.97.

The installer showed up in the morning, but had to call his boss to bring out an extra long ladder to reach the roof of our tall city dwelling in Soulard near St. Louis, Missouri.  The installer left for just a few hours to check out his other job in the area.  He returned with his boss and the ladder a few hours later.  The installers mounted the small round Voom dish on the roof (to the Southeast?) along with a long, thin HDTV antenna to receive my local HD stations.  The cable was run down the side of the building and tacked up as appropriate.  They drilled a hole through the mortar to fish the wire to the un-connected cable line going to my television.

Then he unboxed my Voom receiver and connected it to the back of my HDTV with a DVI cable as well as the audio cables to my surround sound receiver.  After the other installer locked onto the satellite signal and fixed the Voom dish, he then added the local HD stations using the Voom on screen menu and program guide.  It downloaded completely for the first time in about a half hour.

Finally, I get PBS, the WB, and ABC in high definition!!!  My local cable company's local HDTV stations consisted of FOX, CBS, and NBC.  The Fox HD picture is MUCH better from the rooftop antenna than I ever got from my cable company.  Fox recently showed the Spiderman movie in breathtaking high definition and awesome digital sound.  My NBC signal is also a little better from the antenna than from cable.

21 Original Voom Channels!

Voom HD Originals  My wife absolutely LOVES Auction HD (channel 127).  As I write this, they are featuring a LIVE Sotheby's Baseball Memorabilia auction.  The baseball bat that Babe Ruth used to hit the first home run ever hit at Yankee Stadium on opening day in 1923 just sold for $1,100,000 LIVE IN HIGH DEF!  I have really enjoyed watching Spanish league soccer on WorldSport HD (123).  Seeing a whole futbol field of green grass rivals the quality of some the the NFL football games I've seen in HD.  Equator HD (122) regularly features Smart Travels and a show called Elsewhere.  Live music videos and concerts in high definition on Rave HD (125) are enjoyable.  Gallery HD (128) showcases some of the finest artwork in the world.  It's also fun watching models walk the runway wearing the latest fashion in crystal clear high def on Ultra HD (126).  My 10 year old son loves watching cartoons in HD on Animania HD (130).  How about Horror and monster films?  Check out Monsters HD (121).  I bet you've probably never seen a weather map like they one they show on HD News (100).  HD Cinema 10 is a virtual 24 hour movie-plex of 10 channels (101-110) showing lots of older and classic movies from the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc.  While NOT all the movies on HD Cinema 10 look as incredible as today's movies shown in HD, I've even seen some black and white movies that made my jaw drop.  Love Westerns?  You'll love Gunslingers HD (109)!

Plain and simple, if you make a satellite TV comparison, Voom comes out on top, mostly because of their 21 original HD channels that you cannot get anywhere else.  I also wasn't getting Discovery HD Theater from my local cable provider.  Or Bravo HD.  Or TNT HD.  Or multiple HBO's, etc.  The only HD channel that I truly miss from my cable's HDTV stations that is not currently available from Voom's $89.90/month Va Va Voom package is HDNET.  Like I mentioned already, my local HD stations are slightly to significantly clearer coming from the off the air HD antenna installed by Voom than I ever saw from my cable company's HD feed.  Including my local HD stations, I now have about 40 HD channels to choose from and friends and family salivate at the high definition on my television!

Voom Remote Control  I like how the Voom remote lights up at the push of a button.  The Voom remote control feels nice in my hand, making channel surfing a breeze.  It is also much more durable than my old cable remote, where the battery cover was broken the very first week.

Just A Few Cons of Voom  Sometimes it takes a while to re-download the Voom program guide after powering ON the receiver.  The installer recommended that it's fine to just leave the Voom receiver on MOST of the time, but the Voom box gets its software upgrades while powered OFF.

As with any satellite TV service, inclement weather such as heavy rain and snow can cause temporary signal outages.

You WILL be watching MORE television.  It's too easy to sit back and enjoy high def quality programs for long periods of time.  I cannot explain how neat it is to see a true HD movie on my HDTV compared to progressive scan DVD.  Major improvement -- Bring on HD DVD!

It's not the cheapest satellite TV service.  But why should it be?  The cost of being the leading satellite provider of high definition programming is definitely not cheap.  The Va Va Voom package is just under $90/month and I am being charged $9.50/month to rent their HDTV receiver plus sales tax.  If you want the maximum variety of HDTV channels and don't mind paying a bit more than $100 per month to get them, Voom HDTV is definitely the way to go.