Just looked at my bill online and it seemed low. They have credited me 3 previous months of HD plus and this month as well for $36 savings. I never even asked for it, but I will definitely take it and I'm pretty sure I deserve it for the audio dropouts etc.

I haven't called to complain about anything since October when they were having lots of problems with NHL CI.

if you have two or more services with shaw. ie shaw cable + internet or phone they give you hd plus for free if you subcribe to there hd service.

as well, they bump up your internet speed and knock off about $5 if you have internet and cable.

$14 total saving each month if your have HD and internet.

Thanks for the info.

if you have two or more services with shaw. ie shaw cable + internet or phone they give you hd plus for free if you subcribe to there hd service.

as well, they bump up your internet speed and knock off about $5 if you have internet and cable.

$14 total saving each month if your have HD and internet.
Are you sure about this? I have Shaw Internet, Phone, and HD, and I still have to pay for HD Plus. I do get internet cheaper being n a bundle, but they don't just bump up my speed without me paying for it

its only for sask customers right now.

if you have the cable/shsi bundle. the rate dropped $5 for that package.

the internet speeds have gone from 5mbit to 7.5mbit. 10mbit to 15mbit. and shaw introduced express which is 2mbit. 7.5 and up speeds include powerboost.

these are in effect in sask. i dont know about other provinces, only whats happening in sask.

I'm posting this in case anyone else is on the fence... or cares about hearing one dissatisfied customer's complaints.

After being a happy Tivo user for a year, I thought I'd take advantage of my HD TV and upgrade to a Shaw HD box (Motorola 6414 was what Shaw offered). After activating the box, and marveling in the glory of Discover HD, a few high def hockey games, and impressing myself and others by doing a/b comparisons of parallel SD/HD channels, I started to use the box's PVR functions. It all went downhill from there:

1) The search by title function only showed the next episode. Tivo shows you an entry for each channel the program is available on. The reason this is significant is...

2) The Shaw box actually let me schedule a recording of a program on a channel I didn't subscribe to. When I went to watch it, I found an hour of blackness. I was cheesed because I missed my program, and I was flabbergasted that the box actually let me record from a channel I didn't subscribe to.

3) Programs that were advertised to be broadcast less than two weeks in the future were not showing up in the search results. Two weeks' worth of listings is not too much to ask for.

4) Recordings of more than one episode of the same program were just listed at the episode level. Tivo groups them into folders. Much nicer.

5) Even though I didn't count, it seemed like there were more channels in the guide that I didn't get than channels I did get. I had the HD Plus package. See complaint #2. This is a royal PITA and further evidence that the Shaw box is little more than a glorified sales terminal. Tivo lets you choose to include in the onscreen guide all channels, only channels you receive, or only your favorites. Most the Shaw box did was allowed you to create a favorites list.

I don't intend to start a Tivo vs. Shaw flame war, but I have to say that the Shaw box's functionality and overall user experience were a huge letdown compared to the Tivo's. Especially after I dropped $500 for the Shaw box (I paid $200 for the Tivo).

So, I called Shaw and told them to deactivate my HD, and returned the box to London Drugs, no hassles. Regular cable + $10/month for Tivo service = same monthly bill as Shaw HD Plus. Craving at least a little HD signal, I bought an OTA antenna and now get CBC and Global in HD (and the pic quality of CBC is glorious, but Global is mostly in 4x3 and even though my TV thinks it's in 1080i it doesn't look like it). For other channels I'm back enjoying my Tivo in SD. At least my blood pressure is not constantly inflated by that piece of junk Motorola box.

If Shaw only offered a choice of PVR, or at least cared enough about its customers to provide a functional one (note to Shaw management: try a Tivo some time), I may not have gone from HD back to SD. If there was a lot more HD content I might feel different, but of the 20 or so "HD" channels in my package, only a couple had a decent amount of actual HD signal that I was interested in watching. Hopefully in a couple of years there will be more HD content and the hardware/software will have improved. I know lots of people who put up with the Shaw box's limitations in exchange for HD, but for me those limitations were simply not worth $500.

1. All you had to do was press Info and select view upcoming times for this program and it would do the same thing

2. This makes no sense, you recorded a channel you do not subscribe to and you went to watch it, it was black. You expect the channel to show the program on a channel you don't subscribe to just because you record it? The unsubsribed channels are still accessible, you just get a message saying that you need to subscribed for it.

3. Never had that problem unless this is a part of #1 problem which I told you how to get the other times

4. I assume you mean, each show has their own folder. Which is nice but not a big deal, as you can sort by Title, Channel and Date

5. Press your OK button and press Fav and then you can get your Fav List and you get your Fav list in the Small Screen Guide, Press Guide then Fav and you get your Fav List in your main guide. The reason why Shaw and other cable companies show other channels that you don't subscribe to is so that the user knows what the channels have so that they know if they are missing a shows that they want to watch so they have to subscribe to that channel.


So you are paying the same amount of money for better guide UI but way less HD. I think most people would want the other way, especially since all your problems have simple solutions.

Then problem is a PVR one but it is not exclusive to just Shaw.

1) The search by title function only showed the next episode. Tivo shows you an entry for each channel the program is available on. The reason this is significant is...

I don't know about the Pace boxes, but the guide software in the 64xx series units will search the guide for any title that fits your criteria within the two week guide window. It would be nice if these units supported record-by-title (apparently a version of the guide software for a U.S. cable provider does), but we're still waiting for that feature.

2) The Shaw box actually let me schedule a recording of a program on a channel I didn't subscribe to. When I went to watch it, I found an hour of blackness. I was cheesed because I missed my program, and I was flabbergasted that the box actually let me record from a channel I didn't subscribe to.

This is a known issue. The box warns you that you are not authorized for this channel when attempting to view it live, but no such warning exists when you attempt a recording. It is really annoying.

The guide needs to be revamped so that you can either exclude non-subscribed channels from the guide or that they are more clearly indicated; preferably the former. Bell's PVRs have this feature.

3) Programs that were advertised to be broadcast less than two weeks in the future were not showing up in the search results. Two weeks' worth of listings is not too much to ask for.

I recall reading that the guide window is dependent on the market. Cities such as Calgary and Edmonton have a two week window, whereas areas like the BC interior have one week's worth of guide data. I believe Shaw is in the process of rolling out an improved guide window in all its markets.

4) Recordings of more than one episode of the same program were just listed at the episode level. Tivo groups them into folders. Much nicer.

As DSgamby points out, you have the option to sort by date, channel and show title. Note as elegant as the Tivo solution, but better than nothing.

5) Even though I didn't count, it seemed like there were more channels in the guide that I didn't get than channels I did get. I had the HD Plus package. See complaint #2. This is a royal PITA and further evidence that the Shaw box is little more than a glorified sales terminal. Tivo lets you choose to include in the onscreen guide all channels, only channels you receive, or only your favorites. Most the Shaw box did was allowed you to create a favorites list.

Addressed above.

I think it is important to point out that some of the more nifty Tivo features might be encumbered by patents, so it's possible you will never see them in other PVR boxes unless they agree to license the technology or find a work around.

2) The Shaw box actually let me schedule a recording of a program on a channel I didn't subscribe to. When I went to watch it, I found an hour of blackness. I was cheesed because I missed my program, and I was flabbergasted that the box actually let me record from a channel I didn't subscribe to.


are you joking, or is this a serious complaint? what did you expect, you would get a free recording or a channel you don't pay for. if that was the case, why would anyone pay for PPV's, VOD and PORN. they could just record it and watch in a 5min delay.

I think his point is why the box allows you to record the program in the first place without some sort of warning that the program or channel is not authorized.

the thing is, I don't think the receiver or for that matter any receiver knows what channels are subscribed to or not.

Since you are obviously in an area where you can receive OTA, why not get the best of both worlds and get a Tivo HD? That's what I have and only use the Shaw box to augment my HD viewing for programs that are not on the 3 Canadian channels available OTA.

BTW, this really has nothing to do with Shaw customer service (the topic of this thread).

Others have addressed most points, mainly it's on more level to see the upcoming times of the shows. Something I think everyone here has learned to live with.

Global is mostly in 4x3 and even though my TV thinks it's in 1080i it doesn't look like it

The signal most likely is a 1080i signal, that contains 4:3 content. There is nothing that says you must put HD content into a HD signal. Though it seems a logical thing to do, there are many cases when this does not happen, unfortunately.

faston: A moderator merged his thread (Took Shaw box back, cancelled HD subscription) into this thread

The guide needs to be revamped so that you can either exclude non-subscribed channels from the guide or that they are more clearly indicated; preferably the former. Bell's PVRs have this feature.

It's called 'Favourites'. While not as user friendly as Bell(IMO), if you know what channels you are getting or are subscribed to, you can just create a favourites list and then set recordings from it. I know it's not perfect but it's all I can offer.

I've had really good technical support from Shaw - Vancouver. No-hassle replacement of a cable modem. Good advice when troubleshooting Internet connection problems. I recently used their on-line Shaw Customer Chat. Again, very helpful.

I tried searching this thread but the search term was probably too general.

Has shaw cancelled its call back feature? I have had a few issues of late and each time I spent about 30+ min on hold. Never did I get the shaw call back feature.

Yup. The callback feature is currently down for the main sales and billing line.
I could be wrong, but I think Shaw is going through some growing pains upgrading to a CISCO phone system. So, hang tight...or call at exactly at 8am PST.

i got a another call from shaw, after i complained about our refurb 3416 , again. i emailed and told them the issues (audio drops, wonky recording issues when fast forwarding etc) and asked for NEW box, as this one is only like 3mos old, and should have been new from the start. they have already reset it over the phone, a tech has reset it at my house and now they are wanting to send a tech out again.

we'll see what happens.

Push for it I got a new 3416 after a bum 6416 refurb and it does make a diffrence