View Full Version : Does anyone know how the VOOM network can accept HDV/HDTV programming?


Brent Marks
March 10th, 2005, 04:09 AM
miniDV?

D-vhs?



Does anyone know..?


thanks

Sean M Lee
March 10th, 2005, 07:58 AM
just call them and ask for their standards.
I doubt they'll accept an HDV or MiniDV or D-VHS as a master.

Heath McKnight
March 11th, 2005, 10:19 PM
They'll probably want HDCam (Sony). I know HDNet thought the HD10 HDV was a joke, but I've heard nothing so far (not that I'm looking) about the FX1 or Z1...

heath

Alfredo Castil
March 17th, 2005, 02:48 PM
I know form a good source that they won't take HDV. They don't consider it true HD, and neither should you.

Christopher C. Murphy
March 17th, 2005, 03:15 PM
Alfredo,

Suggested reading for you regarding the HD standard - I'm afraid you're the one who ain't HD:

http://www.atsc.org/guide_default.html

....and also another great site that's a little more entertaining regarding aspect ratios - I LOVE this site:

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/

HDV is most definately HD and the debate has been over for a while now. The HDV format is 1080i and 720p - the format clearly falls within spec. The only argument worth having is about quality. It's like race cars - HDV is a race car. However, some race cars are clearly better than others. But, the fact is that HDV is a certified race car that is winning races. It's not a street car and almost no one is buying a Z1U for $5000 to experiment on the street! They're trying to win races.

Boyd Ostroff
March 17th, 2005, 06:04 PM
It's interesting that you mention Voom, they have been in the business news recently as the source of infighting within the Dolan family which owns Cablevision. Voom has a surprisingly low number of subscribers - something like 3,000 IIRC.

It's fun to watch this battle from the sidelines: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050316/media_nm/media_voom_malone_dc_1Cablevision Chairman Charles Dolan is tapping into his personal fortune to keep Voom, a high-definition television satellite service, running beyond its original shutdown date. His son, James, who is CEO of Cablevision, and other board members opposed spending any more money on the business.Just a couple days ago their stock was upgraded on the hope they would stop funding Voom http://www.forbes.com/markets/2005/03/15/0315automarketscan11.html?partner=yahoo&referrer=

Unless you already have something in the works you might be barking up the wrong tree with Voom...

Brent Marks
March 17th, 2005, 06:16 PM
How can they afford all these glossy infomercials I always see...?

Boyd Ostroff
March 17th, 2005, 06:38 PM
I think that's the point.... they can't! ;-)

Brent Marks
March 18th, 2005, 12:32 AM
Aha ha ha I hear ya


Are there any really good HD networks that are close to being profitable?

Heath McKnight
March 18th, 2005, 12:39 AM
HDNet needs better programming...

The problem with Voom! is that you need to point the dish to the East vs. West, like all the other places. I waited 2 weeks for them to come out last summer (and suffered through my fiancee's Sex in the City DVDs) and they said the back of my condo faces West, and I can't put anything on the front or the roof, so they left. I wasn't happy, so I called Dish, but barely watch any HD channels.

heath

Boyd Ostroff
March 18th, 2005, 09:10 AM
Well I got a plasma screen recently but haven't made any changes to my regular cable service. Happily, they pass through HD versions of all the local network affiliates. Quite a bit of this is just pillarboxed on the widescreen, but the quality looks better than the SD cable channel. There are a handful of current shows that are broadcast in HD though.

PBS has an HD channel with some really beautiful stuff on it. And I'm getting an HD version of HBO. The other night one of the networks showed Minority Report in HD and it looked terrific. Most of these channels are 1080i but a couple are 720p. They are subdivided on the higher cable channels and show up with numbers like 10-5, 81-22 and 82-61. My tuner found them when I did the inital channel scan (along with a lot of others that are blank).

Actually, I decided to go with the ED plasma screen (854x480) instead or HD (1280x720). There's quite a price difference, and this Panasonic 37" screen has a terrific image. Most of the time I just watch DVD's or my widescreen DV, so the ED screen actually gives a bit cleaner image with this material than my 22" Samsung HD LCD at 1280x720.

Sean M Lee
March 18th, 2005, 09:36 AM
Voom, at last count, had 26,000 customers. I am one of them. I know 3 others as well. The service is good. Heath, the installers are subcontractors, sounds like you got a bad one. The guys that did mine were fantastic, much better than any of the previous DirecTV installers (also subcontractors). While Voom may sound like it will die, I don't believe that it will. They have been very resillient so far and believe that it will continue, regardless if it's under Cablevision's ownership or not....it will probably do better without. However, their funding has helped keep it afloat so far.

Heath McKnight
March 18th, 2005, 09:49 AM
I'm going to be building a house, and the lot I'm looking at buying faces east and the front, west, so I can probably go Voom!, but I don't know. When I called to complain, they said that was a common problem, east vs. west. So I suggested they actually mention that when people order the installation, etc.

heath

Boyd Ostroff
March 18th, 2005, 12:47 PM
<<<-- Originally posted by Sean M Lee : Voom, at last count, had 26,000 customers. -->>>

I stand corrected: you're right, just looked it up. They may very well survive in one form or another, and in the meantime it's an interesting battle to follow. Regardless of their future prospects they are losing a huge amount of money now, which is why Cablevision wants to get rid of them.

From the February 21 issue of Barrons ("Cable Guys' Feud" on page 15)A few weeks ago the majority of Cablevision's board of directors, including son James, voted against papa Charles Dolan and decided to stop funding the satellite operation, which some believe burned through almost $1 billion since its inception and $75 million in the third quarter alone.

Sean M Lee
March 18th, 2005, 02:50 PM
yeah, the numbers are incredible...at one time Echostar (Dish Network) was to purchase them for their hardware, but the deal fell through. My belief is that if they can survive another 12 months then they will be THE HD provider...if not I expect them to be gobbled up, maybe still by Echostar.

Heath McKnight
March 18th, 2005, 03:24 PM
I'd be happy if Dish bought them! That's who I have.

heath

Robert Knecht Schmidt
March 18th, 2005, 04:17 PM
I've heard very different numbers about the VOOM subscribership (and I've been tracking the story closely), but they're always beneath 100,000.

I'm very pleased that the service seems to have been rescued from the chopping block by a tenacious Daddy Dolan. There's no better way to catch the old Hammer films starring Christopher Lee and David Prowse than on their Monsters HD channel.

It would not surprise me at all that they wouldn't accept HDV content. All the original content on VOOM is top quality.

Ben Buie
March 22nd, 2005, 02:10 AM
<<<-- Originally posted by Brent Marks : miniDV?

D-vhs?



Does anyone know..?


thanks -->>>

Most likely HDCAM.

Just take your HDV stuff over to your local tape house (or send it off) and have it transferred to HDCAM. If you took care with your shooting, your content is good, and you deliver on HDCAM you have a very good shot of getting your stuff on the air.

Ben

Robert Knecht Schmidt
March 22nd, 2005, 12:11 PM
What VOOM channel shows viewer submissions?

Ben Buie
March 22nd, 2005, 12:18 PM
<<<-- Originally posted by Robert Knecht Schmidt : What VOOM channel shows viewer submissions? -->>>

I was assuming he was talking about this in the context of pitching a show to Voom.

Ben

Heath McKnight
April 9th, 2005, 07:15 AM
http://news.com.com/Cablevision+to+shut+its+Voom+satellite+service/2100-1023_3-5661165.html?tag=st_lh

Voom is done.

heath

Boyd Ostroff
April 10th, 2005, 08:14 AM
Now here's something ironic, which brings this thread full-circle. A few days ago I was talking to a friend who said I should get in touch with someone she knows that's been doing computer animation for some new high definition TV network. I asked her if it was Voom but she didn't know. Well today her friend sent me some contact info for this place.... it's one of Rainbow Media's Voom channels! I guess they hadn't read the news on Friday. Looks like that good tip came just a little bit late...

Robert Knecht Schmidt
April 10th, 2005, 08:43 AM
It is plain that the network spent a lot of money on those very fancy computer animations that filled time where other networks would have put commercials--on the order of millions of dollars. While they tended to replay them with obnoxious frequency, it was difficult not to marvel at the careful attention and artistry put into the ensemble of them, especially the genre-themed ones on Monsters HD (Robots, Flying Saucers, Ghouls, Godzilla, Undersea, Slasher, etc.).

I would adore knowing who made them and how.

Boyd Ostroff
April 10th, 2005, 08:59 AM
Here's a list... http://www.moovlab.com/artists_a-f.shtml

Heath McKnight
April 10th, 2005, 08:59 AM
Wait...I read about who did them last year in some video magazine. I can't remember who...Let's do a web search!

heath

Jeff Mack
April 14th, 2005, 03:47 PM
I guess it's a moot point now. They're out of budness at the end of the month.

Jeff

Robert Knecht Schmidt
April 14th, 2005, 04:35 PM
The MOOV shorts were not what I was referring to.

As far as I can tell, the MOOV channel is a screensaver channel that you can switch your HDTV to if you don't want to turn it off but would like something better to put on it than Fox News.