I really like the fact that I no longer have to change channels to delete a recorded event.

Is that so? I haven't come across that situation yet since the upgrade. That's great if so.

The Hans

Pixelation on 630. Watching the new Christina Applegate show "Up All Night" on NBCHDE last night and noticed slight pixelation. Not as bad as a few months ago but regular enough. Switched to CBC News channel to watch Passionate Eye and pixelation continued, minor but evident. There was something recording as well, I think BigBorther, not sure what station my wife has set for that.

Skies were clear, not sure about uplink weather conditions.

There was widespread rain up toward Mississauga all evening

Do not like the "scheduling" and the "please wait" things on the screen when you are simply watching TV. No reason for it.

Whatever they did to the guide, it's terrible. Scrolling horizontally is just excruciating. So they speed up the search which is seldom used and wasn't that big a deal but make the guide, which is frequently used, slow as molasses. I also received a "Loading please wait..." that locked up the 630 for about 5 minutes. I assume it was reloading the guide but why? I wasn't on a screen with no program info. At least Bell PVRs prompt before doing this while in the guide and do most updates while the PVR is idle. What committee decided on this behaviour? :confused:

I've reset and done a full system reset (with disk format) and the problem persists, so that isn't the cure.

Agree 100% ScaryBob. I did a full reset on mine too.

SD has managed to turn a marginally working PVR into a virtually useless piece of crap. Unbelievable.

The 630 is junk! Prospective SD customers, do yourself a favour and avoid Shaw Direct at all costs.

I have absolutely no problem with mine. Scrolling is speedy. Very strange.

I don't seem to have a problem with the guide being sluggish....at least nothing I've noticed.
Horizontal scrolling is actually quite snappy even using the FF button (skips ahead 6 hours)

I also have not had the problem some reported with the guide not going out a full 2 weeks.

I think my 'fast as usual' guide performance is due to the fact that a tech was out to install the new LNB and had to do a full factory reset after the 6.22 update, so if you are having problems, I suggest you give that a try.

i have tried the complete factory authorization but the 630 just hangs and never does it...i have let it sit for an hour and still just hangs ....im really getting angry over this ....the guide is that sluggish that it makes me want to just smash it when looking in the guide....im pretty close to being done with shaw.....as i said before i have been with them for going on 12 yrs and pay in the $130 range a month and this is not acceptable

Interesting

My 630 is not sluggish and I don't notice any difference, My 605 is slow however. But since that is hooked up to a WMC PC we don't use the SD guide, we use the WMC guide. I will have to do some more playing on the 605 guide just to see how bad it is.

I wonder if there is an issue with early vs later production runs, did they do something to the memory??

I think my 'fast as usual' guide performance is due to the fact that a tech was out to install the new LNB and had to do a full factory reset after the 6.22 update, so if you are having problems, I suggest you give that a try.

I reset it after. Dead slow scrolling.

Satman61... Did you do the 5. Authorization Reset or the 6. Factory Reset?

If you did the Authorization Reset then you shouldn't have done that.
However if you did 6.Factory Reset then you can log into the Self Serve page of the SD website and do a rehit or phone SD up and get a rehit.

I did the factory reset. Strangely, I only noticed the slow guide after the reset. Using the left and right arrows to scroll 30 minutes at a time is very slow. Skipping 6 or 24 hours is virtually instantaneous. That just doesn't make sense.

I just checked my guide. If I hit the forward scroll button 3 times as fast as I can, it scrolls ahead one or 2 half hours. If I am a little slower, it scrolls ahead the 3 half hours it should with just about a half second delay. It is just a little slower than the 6 hour or 1 day skip forward. Although I had not noticed any change with the update, I did a front panel reset as recommended by an earlier post. The only thing I have noticed with the new software is the improvement in the replay special features such as skip forward/back and FF. I use those alot. My guide at present shows new program data to 5 PM Wed 28 which is one day short of 14.

I have not had many problems with my 630 but I do not use series record much because live sports is my thing and it is not very useful for that. I have ordered a new 630 in exchange for my 530 and I am keeping my fingers crossed that I get as lucky with it. One feature that I miss is the ability to extend the end of a recording which has already started or an impulse recording which you begin after the program has already started. With the 530, you could also change the start time of a recording to begin later than the program scheduled start, which I also found useful.

i tried both gary....neither did anything....it just hangs

The first option would record that program at that time if there are no other scheduling conflicts. If you were to choose two other programs at the same time as the first one (ie a 3 way conflict) and the original program was available at a later time (in the 14 day guide I presume) then the first it would get shifted to a later recording

The second option locks the recording in for the exact time. IT would not get shifted to a later recording.
Thanks for clearing that up LONSat. I as well, misinterpreted between the two.

The "Smart Record" is fine if episodes are designated "New". Discovery Channel has a couple of conflicts, but the second airings aren't flagged as new, so the PVR won't jump to the next available record. The Shaw owned channels flag nearly everything as "New" for the first three airings.

Do not like the "scheduling" and the "please wait" things on the screen when you are simply watching TV. No reason for it.

I agree fully. Maybe I am just being picky, but I see no reason to have this come up on my screen while watching a movie/program. It's annoying and pointless. It would be great if there was an option to show this on the users screen, or just on the PVR (were the clock is) or not at all.


On a side note, If any SD support read this;

I would also like to see a sleep timer implemented into the options for the 630. It would be great if it was in the interactive menu.

"On a side note, If any SD support read this"



I think they ran away once they knew the update was coming....support has not been on here for months.

Sad really.....

rob1, it appears Shaw Direct support is not posting here because they want people to contact them directly. An analysis of my web traffic definitely shows they are reading just not responding.

My guess (and its only a guess) is they simply don`t want to engage in threads where people are complaining about their products. Better to just be silent and deal with complaints on a one on one basis.