Mine was an early production model, as I've had it for a year now. I don't mean to be a Shaw fanboy, I'm just not having these issues.
Like the bug that causes the guide to crash when going to the favs list, I've never been able to make that happen.

I have had good results on my 630 since update.

I have noticed pixelation only once or twice and it was minor and not proloned. It was not macroblocking. So I believe they did something to improve it. So far no missed recordings, but things are really starting to get busy with the new season getting to full swing.

I am also someone who has never had any problems with my 2 630's.

I got one of them when they were first released and another in January. Between the two of them I have over 60 recurring timers as well as favourites lists. No pixellation, no reboots, no lockups.

The only problem I have ever had was when an installer put in a new LNB and SD sent down the wrong v-codes and I had to call tech support to get the proper ones re-sent.

My signal strength is always over 95 and my ecb is always 9.5 plus and sometimes over 10. Maybe that is why I have no problems ???

My 630 is rock solid as well. I simply do not worry about missed recordings. I have had no issues since the update. I do not doubt the people who are having problems, just reporting that I have none.

I've also had my 630 for over a year and very few problems with it.Tonight I turned my system on and had the black screen,had to do a reset,but never lost the recording that was done just previously to turning the system on. I always leave my 630 powered on I don't know if that has anything to do with it. The store where I purchased my Harmony remote told me to leave it on all the time amd power the rest of the system up and down.

Had my first frozen receiver slash missed recording. Came home and the REC1 light was on but it turned out it never started to record. Had to do a reboot. I think it's the first time since I got this receiver back in August 2010 it's screwed up like this.

I thought that the pixilation problem had been resolved... apparently I was wrong.

Finally got caught up on some recordings that I made over the weekend.

Clear skies....

Fringe recorded Friday night on FOX was pixilated on and off throughout.

Little Fockers recorded Saturday night on MN was pixilated on and off throughout.

And I am not sure WHAT happened to the Global sim-substitution of Family Guy (I was tuned to FOX) that I recorded Sunday night, but it was chewed up in a way I have never experienced with the PVR. I assume it was a problem at source because it was jumping all around...almost looked like a head clog or something similar.

Anyone else notice any of these problems over the weekend?

On a personal note, for those who have expressed frustration towards SD for not yet enabling a 2nd hard drive connection... I agree that it would be a wonderful thing to have.... but I don't recall anyone at Shaw ever promising me that it would happen... ever. So I can't blame Shaw for not delivering something that wasn't promised - at least to ME. Perhaps it will, someday down the road. For now, with the exception of some issues still to be resolved, it's doing what I bought it to do. More or less.:D

I've had several times that the 630 just reset it's self and afterward my guide settings were reset.

On a personal note, for those who have expressed frustration towards SD for not yet enabling a 2nd hard drive connection... I agree that it would be a wonderful thing to have.... but I don't recall anyone at Shaw ever promising me that it would happen... ever. So I can't blame Shaw for not delivering something that wasn't promised - at least to ME. Perhaps it will, someday down the road. For now, with the exception of some issues still to be resolved, it's doing what I bought it to do. More or less.:D

...the CSR I talked to at the time did in fact promise that the 605 AND 630 could make use of an ext HD.....

It seem "stupid" that Shaw dosn't activate the ESata or USB ports for an external hard drive. Bell has done this for over 3 years and therefore the Shaw receiver is not "advanced".
I would like to switch to Shaw from Bell for mobility but they must improve their HD programing (# of chanels) and equipment features first.

It's understandable in the context that Shaw Direct's equipment is about 4-5 years behind Bell's in software development. That means we might see the external hard drive enabled in a year and a stable PVR in about two years.

In Aug 2010 I called Sd before purchasing my first 630. SD told me external hard drive YES. So I purchased. When I called to activate it, I asked about external HD. Not now but upgrade by end of sept for EXT HD. Since then I have been told soon to never. It appears never may be correct. I also asked about last channels memory. Was told 4 channels. Turns out only one channel as far as I can tell, or am I wrong- is there a way to get more than 1 channel? These to features were important to me. I got neither. Well at least the 630 has a guide 24 hours a day.

As I said, I had never been promised anything as regards to an external hard drive capability, so at least I haven't been disappointed in THAT regard! lol.

It WOULD be nice.

However pixilation woes continue... and I had such high hopes.

Monday night I taped a batch of shows. 2 1/2 Men played back glitch-free. The first hour of Terra Nova played back fine, but once my second timer (ironically enough, for 2 1/2 Men) kicked in, it started pixilating. So I assume the conflict is between ABC and CBS?? Haven, recorded at 10 on Showcase, played back flawlessly.

Exactly same problem here.Watching Terra Nova, and pixelation started during recording of 2 1/2 Men. It stopped after (even if no channel was manually switched). It apears than the second tunner switched for recording to the channel where 2 1/2 Men plays, ( pixelation on the one playing Terra Nova) but switched back to the previous one when recording finished (no pixelation). This is a MAJOR problem, as it does not look that they can fix it in firmware (it was known long enough the 6.22 update was done). As I see that SD is very quiet about it I do not have big hopes that they will (can) fix it. I am a long time customer (more than 10 years) but this may make me sell all of my equipment and switch my provider. I can live with some ocassional glitches or a slower than normal guide, but this really affects me as I watch serials, and now that the season starts I have many times during prime time one tunner (sometimes both) recording something on the background so I can not just flip the channels to eliminate the pixelation. :( External HD it's nice to have but it's far less important than fixing the pixelation issue.

I can honestly say that since the upgrade I've yet to experience pixelization, and I've recorded a lot of stuff.

Shaw is sending me my 4th 630 after the 'installer' guy was here today. He and Shaw collectively decided that the problem with freezing up is a hardware problem. Incidentally, I was watching a recorded program tonight and paused it to get a cup of tea. When I came back, it wouldn't continue and everything was frozen as I had left it 3 minutes before. The 'frying' or 'sizzling' sound was coming from the 630, just like every other 'freeze' episode. Once again, I put the phone on top of the receiver so the tech could hear it. He was astounded. Thought that I was lucky there wasn't smoke coming from the thing!

Stay tuned..............

The pixeling problem is still there but it's not as serious and doesn't happen as often as it used to. Happened once during a live broadcast a couple weeks ago. Nice sunny, clear day over most of Ontario I recall. And this pixeling problem happened on a couple of recorded shows, one on this past Friday night during CSI. Every few minutes it would pixelate for a brief second. This pixelation was no where as bad as it used to be where it would do it like every 30 seconds but even at the current 3 minutes or so it's still annoying and still an issue that SD needs to fix.

Just wanted to add my experience to the mix. I had pixelation on a recorded program off ABC East at 2:00 pm yesterday, minor but still there. Watched Criminal Minds off CBS east at 9:00 pm last night (or at least tried to watch) and the program was unwatchable due to pixelation so I switched to antenna. This is what is confusing because CSI at 10:00 pm from CBS East was almost picture perfect. This pixelation or macroblocking seems to be very hit or miss.:confused:

I notice we haven't had a post on this for three days which suggests to me that the problems are only affecting a small percentage of users and that most users are finding the firmware update solves more problems than it creates.

For the record,

I just got off a 40 minute call with the senior engineering person at Shaw Direct who oversees the 6xx series.

Essentially, this person told me the following (and these words are mine since I'm paraphrasing)

The latest firmware update was tested by over 1,000 friends and family users at Shaw Direct with few problems.

The firmware is now installed on over 200,000 boxes and he has heard of less than a dozen complaints.

With that large of an install base, if the issues were widespread and massive, the Customer Service people at Shaw Direct would be overwhelmed right now.

In other words, the firmware has been quite successful with only a minor number of individuals having any significant issues.

Having said that, this person said that anyone having the slow guide problems should contact Shaw Direct and they would investigate.
Hugh. We can't post every day. Nor can I call them every day. The new firmware has been more unstable than the previous. I have no confidence in any recording anymore. We do have lives besides complaining to SD. My experience is that many people do not complain but just live with reboot type problems and annoyances and the odd missed recording. Of the 200,000 units how many really are here? Very small percent. How many have the time to call SD only to be told to reboot, to factory reset, to unplug from the UPS, to wait for an installer to come out(multiple times). It is erroneous to ASSUME problems are small.
I have 2 630's and very good signals, so less reliability and stability is not just by me. One of them would probably be stable but hey...they take turns every time I think it's just the one. Pixellation is still a problem. For a short time I thought it was solved but it is not.
Perhaps they should follow up with such "few" trouble calls and check to see if they resolved the issue. Too many companies think that call handling stats are all it takes to provide good customer service.

For example I just dealt with another company where I was offered a half price hobby magazine subscription, so I took it. I did not receive it but when I complained was told it was on it's way. When it wasn't received I complained again. This time I got the refund and the statement that now I had the refund(1/2 cost) I could go ahead and subscribe(full cost). I'm sure thay marked this off as customer complaint handled. Sure was..I am no longer considering being a customer. That's the way i feel about SD. If they continue the way they are eventually I will give up on them and when Telus TV comes to my area or Shaw cable which is probably in the works, they will lose.
Right now price makes this OK when it works.

Just wanted to add my experience to the mix. I had pixelation on a recorded program off ABC East at 2:00 pm yesterday, minor but still there. Watched Criminal Minds off CBS east at 9:00 pm last night (or at least tried to watch) and the program was unwatchable due to pixelation so I switched to antenna. This is what is confusing because CSI at 10:00 pm from CBS East was almost picture perfect. This pixelation or macroblocking seems to be very hit or miss.:confused:
The pixelation problem is not a "hit and miss". It is known for some time that it caused by some interraction between the two tunners.In other words if you watch one channel and the other tunner is on some specific other channel you get pixelation. I suppose that it might be related to which transponder the other channel is, but I'm not sure. As the tunners alternate when you switch channels, if you are live and do not record, anything it's enough usually to just switch between channels and the pixelation disappears. But if you record , one channel is fixed so nothing will change. Pixelation is in the input signal and will be recorded also, so there is no way to get rid off when you watch it. This pixelation is not related to bad weather or low signal (check your dish signal if you see it).
On the last update there is a change. like other say, as the pixelation is a little bit less and a little bit not so pronounced like before (this shows that the developers know from where it's comming), but I'm afraid that it can not be fixed in firmware, either because of a hardware bug or because hardware limitations (if not they would have fix it already). I think this is here to stay , for the life time of the receiver. :(

Except this problem (a major one) I had "only" one reset (by it's own) and I had to reset myself the receiver as it stopped responding to remote commands since the update. I did not lose any recordings since update, so in general I think that they fixed some of the bugs (not all...). For me the main problem remains the pixelation, not new features.
I also observed that now if the signal goes low during a storm the receiver just gets the blank screen (before you start getting macroblocking for some time before the signal is totaly lost. It's also hard to check but I have the impresion that after update it will "lose the signal" easyer than before. One channel which is very sensitive (more than others) is ShowCase HD. Somehow it looks like the transponder signal is lower for this, but I can not say for sure that the update made it "worst". It may just be that before I was getting macroblocking and now "signal lost" faster. Again, this is not related to the pixelation problem which apears in perfect conditions (both channels in the 90's level).

The guide is sluggish and slow.

Skip forward and back is even more sluggish and slow. I feel like I'm using a old underpowered PC -- very frustrating.

I am with SD ENTIRELY because of the Big Ten Network.

This firmware is definitely a big step backward. I guess I had better call and let them know. I hate the thought of their engineers thinking they had distributed an effective update.