July 2, 2004

VOOM comes to Willow Glen

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Things have changed a lot from the 1950s when television began to have a profound affect on the American people.

In those days, you got to choose from three channels if you were in a big city. Today the choices have grown exponentially, and most people choose from packages of channels on satellite or cable systems.

One of the newest television options for home entertainment is high-definition television. To help sway people, or to add to their choices, is a relatively new service for the San Jose area that’s located right here in Willow Glen. VOOM is a complete service of high definition (HD or HDTV) programming offering 39 premium high-definition channels with some commercial-free, such as WorldSport, Epics and Animania.

A Willow Glen company, Meridian Computer, Satellite, Wireless Inc. has an agreement with Rainbow DBS, which is the satellite services division of Cablevision Systems Corporation, to offer homes throughout San Jose this new high-definition option.

“About six months ago, Rainbow DBS launched a broadcast satellite due east of us, about 15 degrees over the horizon. It’s a state-of-the-art satellite that’s ready for MPEG-4, which allows more information to decompress at its own pace. Most dish satellites are designed for MPEG-2 systems,” says Dean Stock, manager of the satellite side of Meridian’s business.

He explains that MPEG-4, like the earlier MPEG-2, offers packets of information. The difference, he said, is in the decompression. “You get more information in the same packet” with MPEG4, he says.

MPEG-4 defines a toolbox of advanced compression algorithms for audio and visual information. The data streams (Elementary Streams, ES) that result from the coding process can be transmitted or stored separately and need to be composed so as to create the actual multimedia presentation at the receiver side.

VOOM service offers an additional benefit. Users can pick up both East and West Coast HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and Starz. For example, say the owner wants to watch one movie at 7 p.m. our time that’s on at 10 p.m. on the East Coast and a 7 p.m. West Coast movie. With VOOM and MPEG-4, the family can watch the two movies in a high-definition format.

The satellite service is designed to meet the emerging demand for high-definition programming from a rapidly growing base of HDTV owners. Its package offers 39 high definition channels that include 21 HD channels from Rainbow Media. Up to now, U.S. satellite and cable services offered about seven syndicated HDTV channels. VOOM also offers up to 88 popular cable channels in standard definition format along with local digital over-the-air programming.

“VOOM represents the next generation of television programming, targeted to a growing market of consumers already making a major investment in home entertainment,” said Mickey Alpert, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Rainbow DBS.

There are nearly 6 million consumers with HDTV sets and other home theater equipment, but the HD programming they need doesn’t exist. Those are the people that VOOM is designed to serve, said Alpert. The exclusive VOOM package offers “21 HD channels built around the interests of these high-end consumers, while also pulling together existing HDTV programming with a complement of cable favorites, premium packages and local digital over-the-air programming. “

Meridian is offering the package for $39.90 per month. Installation is free. A set-top box can be purchased for $499 or leased at $9.90 per month. The set-top box is made by Motorola and has a digital video output for high-definition and an RGB component, said Stock. The Meridian package also contains a fiber optic output for Digital Theater Sound or true Dolby Digital. In addition, the package includes a terrestrial antenna for local channels. Stock mentioned that Channels 5 and 11, plus a few others, offer HD programming.

Meridian, which also offers customers the DISH Network, is expert in connecting these services and can mix and match various components in “a rational way. We have the ability to make the package cost less with fewer connections,” Stock says.

The store also offers counseling on how to best develop television/sound systems, he adds, along with a show room so that people can see how VOOM or the DISH Networks work and exactly what they do.

The store offers various components including 42-inch plasma screens, 34-in tubes with HD mounts and 31-inch standard monitors. In addition, it builds and services computers and sets up wireless and LAN/WAN computer networks. “Our main business is computers; we offer our own brand in addition to servicing computers and wireless networks.”

Stock has been working with the DISH Network and its various services for about six years. Before joining Sam Mortazavi, president of Meridian, he managed a similar type of satellite retail store. Meridian Computer is 7 years old.

To find out more about high-definition TV or to check out VOOM or to get service for your computer or network, visit Meridian Computer, Satellite, Wireless Inc. at 1584 Meridian Avenue, or Meridian at Hamilton next to Woolf Camera, or call Dean Stock at (408) 979-9944. To check on computers, systems and networks, call Sam Mortzavi at (408) 979-9084.