Hi Guys,

I have a Rogers HD PVR at the moment and I am not happy with the service Rogers are providing or the price I am paying for it! :-(

Been looking at Bell and I have managed to get a bundle deal that will save me $100 a month by switching to Bell and keep pretty much the same package.

I had a play with the new HD PVR box and it looks much nicer than the ugly Rogers box and the programme guide and menus look much nicer with more features than the Rogers box.

But there is lots of negativity about poor signal, poor customer service (show me a company who actually has decent service!! :-)),poor picture and sounds quality and a host of other issues.

So a bit nervious about moving across, I live in a Condo and Bell have just fitted a dish to the roof (on the 50th floor) there are two dishes aparantly for better service (and its heated to keep the snow off).

Keen to get some advice on what I should do? Anybody else using the full Bell service from a Condo?

Also one thing that will drive me nuts is if the programme guide is slow, changing channels is slow and the HD quality is worse than Rogers.

Thanks,

P

You want a company with great customer service?? try calling APPLE. nothing else compares.

You are saving $100.00 a month by switching...is that an introductory offer for 3 months or a year? For a G note per year I guess i would switch from Roger's to Bell. But, I have had both, and Roger's by far has the superior picture..no question..

You might want to call Roger's and see if they will match Bell's offer. than you can have the best of both worlds.

Idk anything about Bell HDPVR. But, i don't have any issues with Roger's in fact my Roger's one works great. allows me to tape 2 channels at once. I love it..works well. may not be the best looking unit. But, I'm not watching the unit...im watching TV.

But Bell's adverts say they have the best HD in Canada?? :p

But Bell's adverts say they have the best HD in Canada?? :p
So far from the truth it's not even funny.

Really?
What do you base that statement on?
Experience, Bar talk, Forum rants?
Rogers and Bev both have up and down sides.

I have both at home.
I'd like to show you the same HD channel simultaneously playing on the two Sharp 46" LCD tv's (LC46D65U) we have. Little, if no difference, but it does lean toward Bev on the NatGeo and Golf channels.

Why do I have both?

Why Not?
Because it's there.

One BIG advantage goes to Bev. I can bring my satellite receiver to my cottage, Rogers (or any cable provider) doesn't get anywhere near the rural area (mountains) where the cottage is.

However, at my home, I notice Rogers has some snowing, and background noise coming in on their signal. If I look at it on an analyzer I can see the Signal to Noise Ratio is quite high on some days and not on others. This is in a brand new housing development, with new lines and equipment. Apparently their connection methods allow extraneous noise and moisture to infiltrate their lines and degrade the signal. On dry days it's not as bad. My neighbors and I all notice the same effects, so I can only "assume" it's not just my house.

Here is my biggest beef about Rogers:
Their GUIDE sucks.
No I don't want to see all the channels you provide, only the ones I subscribe to. Stop wasting my time and when I (or my wife) go to a channel only to be told "Channel Not available, To subscribe Please call 1-800-Bite-Me"

At least Bev allows me to view the guide through the "My Subscriptions" guide, where what I pay for is what I see.

I think that "hockeycoach" has made my decision to go with either Starchoice or Bell.

Lets face it, Both Rogers and Bell are very sad compared to the services our neighbors south of the border enjoy. HOWEVER, this is what we have to live with thanks to our socialist government endorsed CRTC. With that said, here on the East Coast I chose the lesser of 2 evils being Rogers for the following 2 main reasons:

Better HD PQ
On-Demand (a BIG advantage over BELL)

Personally, I think we pay a bit more for Rogers because of On-Demand but it pays for itself. I know Dish Network in the US has On Demand if you have a PVR and I wonder when, if ever Bell will be able to offer the same. Something tells me not for awhile. I have seen Bell and Rogers PQ and sorry but Rogers 1080i is the clear winner.

As for the guide. Hockeycoach: Set up favourites to exclude all the non-subbed channels. In the guide always stay in favourites mode and use the fav button to navigate channels. (on HD/PVRs only). This is what I do and no more "You are not Authorized" messages. Seems to me an easy fix for your biggest beef. You can also go into setup and skip channels altogether that are not subbed so it is possible to do what you want to do with Rogers' EPG on some STBs that is.

I will say that Bell is clearly the better bang for your buck offering better programming choices at better prices but of course, you sacrifice the above 2 advantages by choosing Bell over Rogers.

I know this has been hashed over numerous times but I have trouble believing that there is still a large debate about HD PQ for BEV vs Rogers.

Per Hockey Coach have you actually sat down and looked at HD programming on both at the same time? I haven't recently but did 2 years ago when I also had both (briefly). Same TV and where I could tell a difference I had to give the edge to Bell, less artifacts and a crisper picture. Maybe Rogers is better now but I seem to recall an analysis someone did that shows R. is re-compressing more than Bell. Of course both loose to OTA. ;-)

Rogers has Bell beat on flexibility of install and ability to split the signal if you are willing to watch Analogue and it's crappy PQ. But this thread is about digital so both need a box. You can also "more easily" got beyond 2 or 4 TV's with Rogers.

Rogers also wins in the outside aesthetic dept. No dish and no wrapping your house up in cables. (usually)

Rogers has Bell beat badly on Video on Demand but I use a PVR so this is a low issue in my case. It's probably the biggest miss. Maybe with the ethernet jack in the new Bell Pvr They'll start doing some VoD over IP.

Channel selection and Speciality channels? Not sure who wins there. PPV ? Don’t use it. Bell advertises more total HD channels but as per Hugh's channel analysis your mileage may vary.

Both have crappy channel change but that's digital for you. You are going to have to live with it until IPTV becomes common. Rogers has fast channels in Analogue but the PQ sucks.

That being said pricing is probably comparable if you negotiate. Base published rates Bell wins at least as much as they are directly comparable. I got a better deal switching over but I'm sure if I phoned Rogers and said I was interested in coming back they could match / beat Bell to get me back.

Service is questionable on both sides not sure I can give the edge to one or the other. I've had very good experiences with both and very bad with both.

Rain / Snow fade I see maybe twice a year with Bell and that I equate to the random quarterly cable distributions I used to see on Rogers. No advantage there either.

PVR I think Bell has a better product but I haven't used the most recent Rogers HD PVR

So Woodsie, a couple of questions:

You have had Bell HD recently?
You have watched both Rogers HD and Bell HD on the same model of TV side by side at the same time?
Have you ever tried to set up a favourite list on a Rogers HD box let alone the 4 HD boxes I have in my house? This becomes old REAL fast... and remember "Happy Wife, Happy Life". I've been there done it, it is not fun, and if you change your packages OR, heaven forbid, Rogers change the chanels to a different number, then you have to figure out what has moved where, and what is where the old one was before.
I can't justify paying over $175 a month for TV which is poor quality and difficult for non-tech savy family members to use.

Have you ever compared the Search feature between Bell and Rogers.
Not even close.
Try this:
On Bell you turn on the TV and a show you wanted to see is almost over. You didn't even know it was on, but all you get to see is the last 10 minutes of it... bummer
Just hit the # key and your taken to the search page, with the title of that missed show filled in AUTOMATICALLY, you hit "Search" and bam there you have the list of all the next "n" occurences of that show, time and channel. You the select the next one to come on and watch it or select one later and set it up to be rocorded on your PVR.


I'll watch whatever works, and gives me the biggest and best bang for the buck, and the "On Demand" is nice but not even close to the top of my requirements.

So Woodsie, get two Sharp Aquos, setup both Rogers and Bell, watch the same NatGeo show or golf or hockey, then get back to us.

Now all that being said, if there is a hockey game on CBC HD, on all three sources, Rogers, Bell, and OTA, I go for OTA every time... It is THE best. Hands down, no comparison.

Hockeycoach:

So I take it you have had both Bell and Rogers on 2 identical Aquo's side by side as recent as when? If it's just to prove your point, I have no intention of doing so thank you. By all means, if you want order a couple of Aquos' from Futureshop and send them my way, I'd be more than happy to fit the bill for the Bell receivers and installation and get back to you with a full review. :) I have had Bell HD on my Sony Bravia V series and switched to Rogers from Bell within the past 8 mos and have seen both, however not side by side on same TV and don't need to. I _personally_ noticed the picture clarity to be better than Bell particularly on DiscoveryHD and CBC feeds here on the gear in NB Rogers provides. You are right about the search and guide features of Bell, but as you put it, not even close to the top of my requirements.

PS: Please elaborate on your basis for Bell being so much better quality. Also when did you do your side by side comparison. I'd be interested to know.

Thanks, let me know if you want to send the TVs, I'll be glad to send you my address. :)

For those of you familiar with Shaw Direct you'll know that the DVR they offer is vastly inferior to both Bell or Rogers...

I have been waiting 2.5+ years with continual assurances from SD that a firmware upgrade to make their DVR an actual PVR (more than a 3 day guide, dual record, series record, searchable guide -- all the basic goodies PVRs should come from) was "coming soon". I've about had it with waiting any longer -- the only thing that has kept me is price -- SD offers me a real nice price on programming about $60 for lots of channels, TMN, HBO, US Superchannels, all HD except sports.

However, I tried to add Super Channel today and the cost they tell me brings me right back up into the $80 range -- now if I price the channels I want on Rogers (including Super Channel), I'm looking at $96.00 plus a HDPRV box rental fee -- but they'll give me the box free for two years if I turn in my SD box... Not to mention the couple extra HD channels, MPix, & OnDemand I'll also be getting.

So I'm starting to ask myself what the heck I'm doing waiting this long for SD to upgrade their DVR -- why haven't I switched to Rogers? Esp. since I already have my cell and internet with them.

I suppose it might be the $700 piece of equipment I'll be handing over only to end up paying a rental on a box in two years...

Anyone have any cautionary words about switching from Shaw Direct to Rogers? Thoughts on pros/cons?

And I won't consider Bell, so it's a choice between Shaw Direct or Rogers.