I have spoken to more knowledgeable people at Shaw and they agreed with me that it is just an upconvert of the SD channel and that is the way they are receiving it from AMC Canada (whoever that is). No one seems to know when this will be rectified.

Madmen in HD what crap that's what we need. I read how great series supposed to be tuned in opener of season 3 more sexual filth that's what we need. How about some more basic HD channels CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, NFL Network etc.

Considering all the awards, critical acclaim etc that Mad Men has received, you are in the minority. Many of us would like to see this in HD.

I really can't understand peoples' motivations to parachute into threads like this and rant about some channel they don't like and it should be removed. Are people that close-minded that they don't understand that people have different tastes?

Actually, he was talking about removing Mad Men, not AMC (thanks to the title of his message since the message itself is almost unintelligible due to the lack of proper punctuation). For me, what I can't understand is the "Mad Men = sexual filth" thingy. Wow. If Mad Men is sexually risqué, I would hate to hear what he thinks about The Teletubbies (hello, Tinky Winky).

Mad Men is 'more sexual filth'? Are we in the second grade?.

If he thinks that's bad he should watch True Blood...(I personally don't care for that show or really anything to do with Vampires...why is everyone crapping their pants these days over vampires anyway?!)

So...the question is how much time will pass before AMC Canada gets this sorted out, the free preview will probably end the day the REAL HD channel goes up.

Letter I received from the CRTC:

Thanks for contacting the CRTC with your concerns regarding the provision of AMC in HD by Shaw.

In order to follow this matter, I am asking Shaw by copy of this message, to respond directly to you within three weeks and to send us a copy of its reply for review by Commission staff. You will hear from us again if any regulatory action is required.

Your complaint and all related correspondence will be placed on Shaw's public file at the end of three weeks. The Commission may review it at licence renewal time and interested parties may consult the file at any time.

[Privacy Act stuff deleted for brevity]

I am also providing you with a link to the fact sheet which explains the CRTC complaints process : http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/INFO_SHT/G8.htm

Regards,
[name and contact info deleted]
Client Services
Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes / Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission / Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2
Gouvernement du Canada / Government of Canada

c.c.: Shaw Cablesystems Limited

The text of my complaint:

Date Registered: 04/09/2009 4:59:03 PM
Date Arrived: 04/09/2009

Message:
Shaw Cable (Winnipeg) has just added the AMC-HD channel to its lineup at ch. 225 (See the attached press release (http://www.shaw.ca/NR/rdonlyres/B4BC9EF7-E921-422D-AA3E-C0641D2FC801/0/AMC_PressRelease_August24_AllOtherMarkets.pdf))

However, the signal being broadcast on ch. 225 is a stretched/distorted version of the AMC standard definition channel and is *NOT* a high-definition feed.

A proper AMC-HD signal can be easily identified by the AMD-HD bug in the corner of the screen. The bug on the Shaw channel is just the AMC (standard definition) logo.

In essence, Shaw's ch. 225 is just the 480i 4:3 SD channel (which is already on the Shaw lineup at ch. 40) being stretched/distorted to fill the 16:9 aspect ratio.

It *IS* *NOT* an HD channel!!!

PS. Not to rabble-rouse, but I urge everyone who is unhappy with this state of affairs to register separate complaints (http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/INFO_SHT/G8.htm) with the CRTC. They have the ability to get the ear of Shaw!! ;)

AMC is now in HD on Shaw. They are just using the US feed for now as I did a direct comparison when a commercial was on and channel 40 had a Shaw commercial on, while channel 225 had a US commercial on at the same time. Mad men is on right now and is in HD and is unstretched.

I did notice that the movie before, Top Gun, even though it was in HD, was stretched. So the complaints in the US about this channel are accurate--some shows are stretched and some aren't.

Thanks to Cavu and all those other noise makers out there. We have a solution, interim as it is.

I just noticed it was in HD as well. Which is funny, because as soon as it was in the guide I set up a reoccuring recording for mad men. This morning I finally deleted it as it wasn't in HD. Then the wife was flicking through the channels to find true blood and it was in HD.. lol

Yup. Mad Men is in HD right now with 5.1 sound. Hopefully this is permanent.

So they are now showing the U.S feed of of AMC I don't really care but is that even really allowed

Isn't it just that if AMC doesn't have the rights to a movie in Canada then a different movie will be shown on the AMC in Canada. Does that actually constitute a seperate entity called "AMC Canada". I've searched Google and from what I can tell it's the actual US feed of AMC. Most of the time the schedule seems pretty much the same, complete with American commercials.

I see American commercials on AMC all the time. Sure Shaw has their own commercials inserted over top of the commercial breaks sometimes, but they do that on CNN and other US networks all the time.

I just flipped back between AMC SD and AMC HD during Mad Men and it was the EXACT same commercials.

Anyways, just glad to finally be able to watch the true HD feed.

During the movie Top Gun, channel 40 and 225 had different commercials on at the same time. Sometimes they will be the same, somtimes they will be different.

Now back to stretched for movies.

It seems Shaw switched over to the AMCHD channel for Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and then back to the stretched version of channel 40 after they were over. No more HD logo.

I did notice that the movie before, Top Gun, even though it was in HD, was stretched.

Then it wasn't HD...you cant have a 4:3 program in hd and stretch it, although it seems the movies are always in 5.1 at least.

It was on just before Mad Men and had the HD logo. It could have been just stretched SD--I didn't watch it for very long, but it looked HD to my eyes. There were black bars on the top and bottom so they could have just taken the 1.78 network HD version and instead of zooming the picture, AMC stretched it. Top Gun has an OAR of 2.35 on HD-DVD.

This channel is baaaaad. EAHD is far better , real hd without edits, censored and commercials. The streaching and adding of bars to sd is very strange. I don't get it.