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I have just switched back from MTS tv to Shaw and i'm injoying it. I really like The Anime network on demand for $4.95 a month but what would really be a big bonus is if they could get the actual 24/7 station in the line-up that would kick big butt. I have alredy fowarded them an email regarding this and thay have sent it to their head office. :D

Ok, this is probably a dumb question, but do you have to leave the Motorola DCT 6412 powered on if you have it set to record something? I've been leaving it powered on, but have wondered if you could turn its power off and it would turn itself back on when the your show came on??

Turning off your DCT 6412 will result in the box being muted while recording. Some people get confused when they try to watch TV during a muted recording. There are threads on how to unmute during recording... They mute the recording so if you are taping at 3:00 AM with your speakers on... you don't fill your shorts when a loud noise comes from your speakers.

The Shaw HD/PVR DCT 6208 series is defective straight from the Motorola factory and Shaw has known for over one year. The chip is putting out a bad analog signal and can not be corrected. Shaw suggests splitting the analog and digital but will not admit the box is defective and replace it. This is not a guess it's a fact.

rico, post something to support your claim or we will delete your post

You will view a noticeable degradation of picture quality on analog channels when using the 5000/6000 series HD cable boxes. If you call Shaw and complain they will book a service call and try to rectify the problem by splitting the cable and feeding coax direct to your TV to bypass the HD box for analog viewing. TRY making the call and you will find my complaint has merit. The right fix is to replace the 5000/6000 series boxes with a corrected series without the defective analog processor. Shaw upper management know there is a problem but will not spend the money to rectify it with their customers.

I guess it depends on your definition of defective and poor quality. The Shaw boxes do give a picture, it is just not as good a quality as it could be.

Shaw's cable boxes from the DCT2000HT model through to the DCT6412 have had poor video quality output of the analog TV channels on the S-video and component video outputs when fed to some, but not all TVs. I do not take this as a defect but your mileage may vary. I do know it has been very annoying in having to use extra cable connections between my cable box and my TV and having to change the source input on my TV (which is very cumbersome on my 5 year old Toshiba TV) when changing between digital and analog channels to get the best video quality.

The Shaw HD/PVR DCT 6208 series is defective straight from the Motorola factory and Shaw has known for over one year. The chip is putting out a bad analog signal and can not be corrected. Shaw suggests splitting the analog and digital but will not admit the box is defective and replace it. This is not a guess it's a fact.


Hi Rico this is not a defectiveness just a limitation in analog to digital conversion technology at the time the DCT6208 was designed and manufactured. This is like Ford releasing a Mustang that has a top speed of 100km/hour due to high cost of performance parts. then 6 months later they release the GT of the mustang and it can not go over 200KM/hour. it is not that the slower mustang is defective its just built they way it is. remember this was Motorola's first jump in HD/PVR (DCT6208) as with all first times in technology the manufacturer needs time to make changes to the process and usually 2-3 revisions later the equipment is way better than the first.

look at the new DCT6412 Phase III it has upgraded standards (HDMI instead of DVI-D) SATA Hard Drive and a much improved Analog to Digital Conversion process some say only bit better but to me its quite a difference when the 4:3 override is set to 480P. for more see this link and you then should agree this is not a defect but an evolution in technology.


http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/analogFAQ.asp

I decided to check the digital channels available in my area and here is the link: http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServices/Television/ChannelsInMyArea/

Is it only those channels that have digital channels labelling, digital channels? Are the rest analog? I know about the HD channels so you don't have to explain it. Thanks!

The channels highlighted as Basic, Tier1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 are analog. I believe all the others are digital.

The channels highlighted as Basic, Tier1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 are analog. I believe all the others are digital.

Interesting. So even the movie channels are digital?

Yes...basically anything you need a cable box to get is digital. Movies too.

I have the Motorola DCT 2500, but would I be able to receive the analog channels if I didn't subscribe to Shaw? I don't think so?

If you don't subscribe, Shaw should have disconnected the line or put traps on the line to block all analog channels. Digital channel are usually received by the cable box and its settings control what channel are decoded.

If you don't subscribe, Shaw should have disconnected the line or put traps on the line to block all analog channels. Digital channel are usually received by the cable box and its settings control what channel are decoded.

I am subscribing to shaw, but I just got curious with what you stated earlier. The thing is that I only want to record the digital channels because it'll look better on the computer versus recording the analog channels.

I'm a Shaw customer in Victoria. Starting on the weekend, I have noticeable jerkiness in motion on the video on all HD channels. I'm wondering if others in Victoria have noticed a similar problem, or if it's specific to my feed. I upgraded my 6208 to a 6214 about 3 weeks ago, but everything was fine until this weekend (and continues since then).

Try unplugging the STB for a few minutes, plug it back in to reboot it and wait 1/2 hour.

Sometimes a reboot fixes these issues.

Hi everyone, I'm a long-time reader here, but rare poster. Anyway, I just moved into a new house and everything's going well - except for my cable reception. I had shaw come in to bring us a new DCT (one HD PVR now and one SD box) and hook up our cable. The cabling was a mess and he managed to straighten it out, minus one jack that we couldn't even find in the house.

Now that we're all unpacked, I've found the fourth jack and even a fifth one. The fourth one is useless to me, but the fifth one is in a prime spot with a faceplate and everything --- but I don't know where it goes to! I don't have the tools, nor the guts (yet) to rip the wall apart and find out where the cable goes, and I can't see the other end of the cable coming out of anywhere downstairs where the cable comes into the house.

The reception problem I mentioned is with two of the three jacks that DO work in the house. One of them is so bad that the SD digital box can't even tune into the digital channels at all, and the other is pretty fuzzy on analog stations and drops HD signals way too easily.

So should I just call up shaw again and have them send out a guy to try and run some new cable? I've reterminated the ends that I could and that helped a bit, but not enough. Does Shaw run new cable in the house for you? and if so, how much do they charge? It was like $21 for the guy to transfer the service to the new place - why, I have no idea, but whatever. Any tips on what to say to the CSR in order to get this done properly?