ya i'm fully aware of the risks entering installer menu , located info
thanks for the reply btw.

This morning I have the Gateway update but my main Portal just shows 'software update available'. I tried a power cycle after trying the 'update Shaw Total Home' and neither had any affect, rather it now shows as 'software is up to date' with the old September 07 load. Power cycling is not the way to force an update, apparently.

Found an 'Update software' option under the 'Account' menu but received a 'Failed to connect to Shaw Total Home Portal service' so something's not right there. I'm checking on if there is anything else that can be done but so far this is the best bet and it isn't having the desired effect.

Edit: I'm not stumbling around on my own, I'm following some help from a 'friend'.

I had my Gateway installed here in Saskatoon yesterday. It took 3 hours.

He had to make sure it had the latest firmware, which I'm pretty sure is the latest version everyone is waiting to upgrade to. I'll check after work.

Interestingly enough, the one Portal I use the least had updated itself this morning at 7:54. I see my second Portal, in the master bedroom, has now updated at 10:54 so I guess one of the two manual attempts I made there must have worked.

Sad thing is I have lost the option to 'update' the main TV Portal since I power cycled it. I am now hoping it will eventually see there is an update available and take it as I no longer have the option to do it manually and trying an 'update Shaw Total Home' has no effect.

This is all just as an FYI for those wanting to try the same things.

I realize this has been asked, but can a Shaw Rep. let us know what has been updated so we can field test it?

Noticed I have all the updates as of 4am this morning

Well, looks like the VOD issues have been corrected. I have two VOD programs playing on different Portals with no problems, that is a relief!

Here's a list I found floating around:

• An issue which caused audio and video synchronization problems when watching a
recording or live TV has been resolved.
•The Total Home Portal should no longer display "You are not authorized" on all
channels when a SEM is rebooted during a maintenance procedure.
•Playback of a VOD movie while TV video resolution is set to 1080i with an HDMI
connection should no longer cause video to flash.
•Attempting to tune to channels on live TV should no longer result in Error Message "No
signal detected. Please check your cable connection".
•The Total Home Portal should no longer experience video freezing and loss of
responsiveness to remote commands as often.
•During playback of recorded content, the following Error Message "5102 - An error
occurred during media playback..." may be shown if the video stream fails. Multiple
instances of the message will no longer appear "stacked" one on top of each other.
•An issue which occurred when five turners are active with recordings, live TV and
VOD, and a scheduled recording is about to start would cause VOD to stop playing,
channels to stop streaming, black screen and the Total Home Portals to display Error
"3403 - Unable to retrieve conflict information" has been resolved.
•When a recorded program is selected to delete from one of the filter cards (i.e. Movies),
after deleting the recorded program the center focus goes to the currently airing program.
•When a VOD asset is paused using the "pause" button on the remote, pressing replay,
back, next or skip on the remote previously did not resume playback.
•When an unsupported external HDD is connected to the Shaw Gateway, the Portal will
not display a note informing the customer that an unsupported external HDD is
connected.
•An issue which caused audio drops when the TV settings were set to 480p has been
resolved.
•An issue which caused a single audio stutter to be heard after changing channels has
been resolved.
•Video should no longer appear "snowy" when the Portal is connected to the TV via an
HDMI cable.
•When more than 100 channels are hidden in the channel list, and the grid guide is
opened, the Portal should no longer reboot after navigating for a few minutes.
•When the aspect ratio in TV setup is set to 4:3 and the TV is connected via Component
cables, the setting should no longer reset to Cropped after a software update.
•An issue which caused a VOD Networking Error to appear when trying to connect to
VOD has been resolved.
•An issue which caused the time slot of the Channels filter not to update to the current
time has been resolved.
•After performing a power cycle on the Shaw Gateway, it will now come up with the
correct LED lights (Power, Downstream, Upstream, connectivity and MoCA) but will no
longer incorrectly cycle a second time.
•An issue which caused SD channels to sometimes force the video output to reset to 480i
even though an HD resolution is selected in TV Setup has been resolved.

thanks for sharing that Jetranger

•When an unsupported external HDD is connected to the Shaw Gateway, the Portal will not display a note informing the customer that an unsupported external HDD is connected.

@ Jetranger - Any idea what they consider an "unsupported external HDD"?

J

Now that a lot of the real nagging issues appear to be corrected, I am having a good Gateway experience, finally! It is nice not having to worry about contact with Shaw. Thanks to everyone here especially JetRanger for sharing :p. I can't think of a problem lately and the expander is working as designed :D, Whoopee no reason to call Shaw!

Yes, it turns out the tech upgraded my unit when he installed it to the "b" update. Everything seems to be working really well so far!

jorton; I have no clue as to what that would mean other than perhaps making all of the 'testing' you did a lot easier. Is there any chance you could connect one that didn't want to work and see if you get the message?

To everyone else, I'm glad my posts are helpful. Thanks for your appreciation. I found that survey that Flash604 posted about earlier and there are some results published now that might make some here feel better about their Gateway experience. Apparently Shaw has seen it too and have been talking about the results already.

I made a pdf of the survey results. Since this is purely information and it was created by a Gateway owner, I hope it is found to be of interest to members here. The raw results are listed first for each question then they are shown in a pie chart or bar graph for the same question. There are raw comments at the end and I think they are a fair span of the experiences of members here.

There is one comment that recommends a weekly 'reboot' but I guess that person is unaware that this already happens, even at about the same time he/she suggests. I would guess that person isn't a DHC member or they would know this already.;)

^ Thanks for that. I'm actually quite surprised by the results. I thought the overall results would be much more negative than that--reading this forum would give one that impression. Perhaps it's true that people are more apt to speak up when they're having problems, but usually say nothing when things are going well or as expected.

I was really surprised with the results. While I weathered the Gateway storm, I have refused to upgrade to Broadband 50 simply because I do not want another "Shaw Customer Experience".

I'm not really surprised by the results other than the fact there are some who have given up already or are 'about to'. I would argue there are likely far more people having issues than anyone knows. I can't see how every single system wouldn't experience all of the same issues since they are all running the same software.

I know for a fact that the original Pace Tahoe I bought my parents has all the issues people here complain about yet I have never once heard my mother say she has any problems with it. Being in their 70s, they just accept the faults as part of the technology. Since I am in a different province, I can't take care of it for them and until she can't actually watch TV, she's not going to call Shaw about it.

I'd like to find someone in Calgary who feels they have no issues with this system and go to their home to see if that is actually the case. I'd love to know there is hope that I too would one day have an 'error free' system but I think the reality of it is most people are either just unaware or just don't care.

jorton; I have no clue as to what that would mean other than perhaps making all of the 'testing' you did a lot easier. Is there any chance you could connect one that didn't want to work and see if you get the message?

I only have Vantec Nexstar esata enclosures (4 different ones...) and they have all worked and I don't think I'll be going to go out an "buy" a non working one to test it ;) Although I guess I could always return it :p

The language "unsupported" seems to imply something... and I was worried that Shaw might do something silly like make their retail "Shaw" expanders the only "supported" expanders and somehow make the currently working home brew expanders "unsupported" and set them to not work... weirder things have happened... but probably not an issue and the Gateway will just recognize the enclosure chipsets that are not compatible like you said.

I don't think there is any 'sinister intent' behind that other than offering an easier way to determine if the external drive you connect will work or not. If the setup is 'not supported', wouldn't it be nice to know with an on-screen message rather than have to go through a likely painful trial and error process?

Since they have tested it with at least three different manufacturers equipment (IIRC), I don't think there is any intent on actual limiting of external drives, just that some won't work and now you should get a clear indication of that if you try one that isn't compatible.