View our Product Guide
Electronic House Newsletter   View sample
 
Popular Stories
View Home of the Year '09.
Recent Comments
Jerry (11/21, 06:18 PM)
Tony (11/21, 10:40 AM)
sunlcd (11/21, 10:21 AM)
sunlcd (11/21, 10:20 AM)
ugg cardy boots (11/21, 09:58 AM)
Recent Slideshow Galleries
9 Green (and Great!) TVs Paris Theme Illuminates Home Theater 20 Great Looking Racks DIYer Spends 3 Years Researching Theater 6 Products to Watch for in November The Holiday Gift Guide 2009 20 Leading Flat-Panel TVs 10 Manliest Man Caves The Best Blu-ray Releases of November 7 More Wiring Nightmares Inside Halloween Park’s Haunted House 16 Scary DVDs We’re Waiting for on Blu-ray 17 Scary Blu-rays for Halloween Careful Planning Keeps 12K-Square-Foot Home Running Smoothly N.Y. Yankees Pitchers Dig Home Theater Drastic Theater Reconfiguration Includes Hiding Bay Window
Info and Answers Feature
7 Ways to Slay Your Power Vampires
7 Ways to Slay Your Power Vampires
Standby power wastes energy and money, but there are easy ways to save.

Themed Home Theaters
View Designing a Death Star Theater
Designing a Death Star Home Theater
Three separate rooms, one starfield, and a life-sized Han Solo are just a few of the things that help two super "Star Wars" fans get their geek on in this theater.

Site Sections
Services
Home Theater
Dish Loses HD Channels
The satellite provider is cutting the cord with VOOM, replacing it with other high-def offerings.
May 14, 2008 | by Rachel Cericola

Flipping through my channel lineup suddenly doesn’t take as long as it used to.

Dish Network has dropped all of the VOOM channels from its lineup. According to EngadgetHD, 10 of them went dark yesterday, with the last five leaving the dial today.

The provider couldn’t yank the stations fast enough, stating that Voom is in breach of their carriage deal.

The networks now missing include Voom Movies, Aniamania, Film Fest and Game Play. My husband might be bummed about World Sport, but otherwise most subscribers won’t notice. In fact, Dish has already added new high-def offerings to make up the slack. Most are familiar stations, such as ESPNews HD, Sci Fi HD, Toon Disney HD, and Travel Channel HD.

While I appreciate the extras, taking channels away—especially when it comes to HD—is never a good thing.  Check Dish Network for a complete lineup.



About the Author:
Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer
Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.



Article Topics
Popular Tags
Social Bookmark   less


Comments (12) Most recent displayed first.
Posted by wayne B.  on  05/23/08  at  07:29 PM

Shame on you DISH, the VOOM package was the reason I loved and signed up with DISH.  I loved your Monster HD and also Gallery HD.  You had a good thing going. 
Mr. CEO, if you’re sharp, you beg to get VOOM back on your schedule.
If not back on the DISH lineup, by the time my contract expires,  I’m jumping ship.
WAKE UP,  YOU HAD A GREAT LINEUP
NOT NOW - REALLY STUPID MOVE

Posted by nathan  on  05/16/08  at  11:27 AM

This is indeed a big loss for DISH viewers.  Voom’s movie channels like Film Fest, World, Monsters, and Kung Fu were consistently better than anything DISH has replaced them with.  Were there repeats?  Sure.  Name me a movie channel that doesn’t have frequent repeats?  (OK, TCM, but then they are the creme-de-la-creme, except they don’t broadcast in HD.)

In fact, Voom’s movie channels were second only to HDNET in terms of quality and correctness—OAR, original aspect ratio.  Recent highlights included pristine HD transfers of the complete Planet of the Apes series from the early 70s in widescreen, and slew of Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Bruce Lee movies on Kung Fu—all in new HD transfers, all OAR, and all unlikely to appear anywhere else, any time soon.  And, of course, uncut and commercial free!

The so-called HD channels that DISH has added instead of VOOM have far fewer HD programs (most are just SD stretched to look wide, and upconverted to try to look HD),  too often crop the movies, and insert ads and overlays into the movies.  This is an upgrade?  Hardly. 

But at least the new channels have name recognition :-(

Posted by Ryan  on  05/15/08  at  03:03 AM

Actually the new hd channels are true hd the ones before were mpeg2 the new ones are mpeg4

Posted by bh  on  05/14/08  at  10:19 PM

this is no great loss, the voom channels sucked.

Posted by Phil Gray  on  05/14/08  at  07:04 PM

What offends me more than the loss of the unique (commercial free) true HD channels were removed from Dish and replaced by a bunch of witless crap, half of which is not even being broadcast in true hi def, is Dish networks flat out lies about adding 22 hi def channels.  They failed to even mention that all VOOM channels would be discontinued.  I found out when I went to check Film Fest and World Cinema channels for the film line ups for the day. Now the closest I can expect to come to any hi def movies that aren’t typical major studio junk is the occasional film thirties and forties film cinemax shows.  Shame on Dish for falling into another run of the mill service that is at best the same old same old fodder.


+ View all comments on for this article



Post a Comment

Name:

Email:


View comment guidelines

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please answer the question below:

Type the first letter of the word "stereo":





Learn more about products and solutions from tech companies.
Electronic House magazine's 2009 Best Homes of the Year special.
Electronic House reviews the coolest products of the year.
Visit the Electronic House Ideas store & get more out of your home!

Stay up-to-date with home electronics. Get your print subscription today.
Weekly email offers tips, info and product news.
Subscribe today!
Get the content that's important to you.
More about RSS.
Electronic House is now available in a digital edition. Learn more.
About us Advertise Magazine Newsletters Digital issues EH Publishing Privacy policy Contact us
 Copyright © 2006 EH Publishing. All rights reserved.
EH Network: CE Pro TecHome Builder ChannelPro ProSoundWeb Church Production Electronic House Expo Worship Facilities Expo