Does anybody know if there is a thread with 9200 owners freezing as well? I'm just wondering if the problem exists to the same degree. If not, I can bug Bell until they upgrade me free of charge.

It seemed as though the freezing had subsided a bit to me as well, but then after x-mas I was watching discovery (Dec 27th) evening and it was freezing every five minutes for me. Other channels last night (Dec29) were only doing it every 10-15min.

This every very unacceptable to me. If these are growing pains with HD, then my friend who has had Rogers since May would have seen it by now. If it is Bell growing pains, then why do we pay so much to get substandard broadcasting/equipment?

Bob

Well here we go again. Just when I thought there might be progress. I counted 10 freezes in 20 minutes on Discovery the other night. I have given up on CTV all together. Both east and west, simsubbed or not, it flat doesn't work,ever! Football on CBS east yesterday wasn't very good but the same game on CBS west was fine. All sorts of juddering in Fox games. Denver game was brutal. Terrible picture, breakup, freezing. Maybe a source problem? Anybody else experience these problems? Any new ideas what to do? I find it hard to believe that we are all just "unlucky" to have faulty 6100s and that exchanging them will correct problem. I am glad I didn't buy this thing.

According to the last csr with whom I had spoken, it apparently is a 'known issue'. Unfortunately, the timeframe for resolution is an 'unknown issue'.

He indicated that it was a 'source' problem but could not verify if by that he was referring to the point of origin of the signal or a BEV problem. He would only repeat the 'known issue at the source' mantra.

So if this is a "known issue", as I have also been told, where do they get off charging us for a service that knowingly doesn't work? I am on the free HD for 6 months deal. However I pay $10.00/month to rent my lovely 6100. And I had to sign up for a year. After my replacement 6100 the csr told me I would get an additional 3 free months. But get this. I have to phone after the first 6 months is up and there is a "notation" on my account to add the next 3. She told me she couldn't just add it on on the end. So it is up to me to trigger it. Any guesses how successful I will be?

I figure you have either of 2 chances.

1) fat

or

2) slim

Update: I received the new/refurb 6100 receiver and installed. That night, the problem was present.

I called Bell and the tech acknowleged the issue and says they are working on a software upgrade but would not commit to a timeframe as a previous poster mentioned.

I told them I will call back next week. I plan to record the conversation with them admitting the problem and use it as leverage to either give me a price break or get out of my contract. I would also consider getting a PVR instead of the 6100 at no additional cost since it seems they do not have the same issue.

Bob

FYI, I've got the 9200 receiver and experience the same on the rare occasion. Though on New Year's Day, while watching the Madonna concert on CityTV HD, the video freeze-up/video breakup was absolutely horrible! Must have occurred almost every 2 minutes!

Keep after them Bob and keep us posted on your results. I wish you the best of luck. For myself I have had my fill of dealing with them. I won't waste anymore time on what would appear to be an impossible issue to sort out. They either can't or won't make it right and they continue to stonewall anyone that complains about it not working correctly. My belief is that the CSRs are either told say nothing or really don't know anything. Either way when I first complained I was told it was the first time they had heard of this problem. Now at least they acknowledge the problem but can offer no solution. What a joke! They also continue to put this product on the market, with a known flaw, that renders it useless for its purchased task. At least my rental contract only has 10 months to run. At that point it will all go back unless I see a phenominal change in performance. Meanwhile I will continue to investigate options on replacing all my other bell equipment as well.

However, I too am losing patience and wasting a lot of time getting through each time. I fear soon, I will be forced to do the same as all others here and just deal with it until my contract is up. I too will have no choice but to move to Rogers to remedy this issue. It just bothers me too much to continue this way.

I will keep my results (or lack of ) posted for all to enjoy!

Bob

It's back!!
NFL WildCard Weekend SUCKED big time, the freezing was brutal and a complete disgrace for Bell, at times I had to switch to SD just to watch it.
I was actually missing plays because of lengthy and consistent freezing.

I'm pretty angry at Bell, this is pathetic and completely unacceptable. I have spent thousands on my set up it's embarrassing to have people over watching such a pathetic viewing experience. Seems pretty obvious why Bell switched over to renting these junkie units.
The audio stays on track but the video was freezing bad.

Since I bought my receiver and it's off warranty I have no leverage and the only other provider in my city is Shaw and their 6 channels of HD.
The only thing I can do, and recommend to others, is to complain to Bell online and 'CC' them where it counts: the advertisers.
TV is all about advertising revenue, so I am going to email ExpressVu and also send copies to relevent stations (in this case Global and CBS) as well as a hand full of advertisers and let them know that due to crappy delivery of their product ExpressVu is actually alienating me as a customer and that I will not support any of the advertisers with my hard earned money.

I know it's a long shot but it's the only way to try and hit Bell where it hurts.

PS: Any ambitious lawyers out there? This has to be the stuff of class action suits!!

I spoke to bell last week. This is KNOWN software issue with the 6100. The new 6100 will not help! BEV 3rd level tech confirmed this and said something to the effect that BEV is working on the problem, and that they "never have denied" that this problem exists...Yea right!
I sent an e-mail to the CRTC since bell would not upgrade me to a receiver that does not have this software issue. I purchased my 6100, and as far as I am concearned, BEV is in Breach of Contract for not providing me (and everyone else) with the service and product that we are paying for. At this time the only BEV HD receiver that does not have this problem is the 9200!!
I am attempting to get BEV to exchange my 6100 for a 9200. Their current position....sure "buy one, you can sell your 6100 on e-bay". That does not work for me, I paid $431 for it and BEV is currently selling the 6100 for around $200+-. I did offer to pay the difference between what I paid for the 6100 and the price of a 9200, Bev said "no", they did however offer me three SD movies!!!! I said NO!!! As if I would sell a HD product that I know is flawed. The saga continues.

I'm in the same boat as you phoenix144, ethically (unlike Bell) I cannot pawn this piece of junk receiver off on someone else and still sleep at night.

The only option I can see is to be a royal and consistent pain in the butt to the advertisers and keep dropping Expressvu's name in there, and include Bell in the emails so they know.

I hear you cm. Interestingly all 4 games eventually stopped being simsubbed by Global. I watched on Seattle stations and they were fine after simsub stopped. I find myself starting on US feed in the hopes it doesn't get simsubbed. If it does and it is bad I search for best station but I always return hoping simsub has been ended.Sometimes it does. I almost switched to SD for Pats and Jets game as it was freezing all the time at beginning. It got better and at end of first quarter the simsub ended. Eagles / Giants did the same thing. Started with Global and then ended simsub. Same thing went on Saturday. We can only hope, at the very least, same thing applies for rest of playoffs. It is so annoying to me that I often won't watch a show if it is simsubbed or just watch in SD. I can't even start with CTV as the freezing is constant. What a wonderful HD experience eh? I have personally told 3 friends NOT to even think about ExpressVu. I take great pleasure doing it. I don't care if the 9200 works or not as I don't have any faith in Bell to correct a problem should one occur. I can't believe they are allowed to sell or rent a product that knowingly doesn't work. As a side note those two stupid beavers got Air Farce's chicken cannon of the year. Looks good on them!

I'm in the same boat as you phoenix144, ethically (unlike Bell) I cannot pawn this piece of junk receiver off on someone else and still sleep at night.

The only option I can see is to be a royal and consistent pain in the butt to the advertisers and keep dropping Expressvu's name in there, and include Bell in the emails so they know.
Which advertisers?

The companies on the commercials.
They are paying top dollar to advertise on a network (Global, CBS, etc) and get their message to me in the hopes I'll buy their product, ExpressVu takes the entire content from the network and ships it to me....in a defective product.
Therefore the advertisers, and networks, are spending their money but one of the parties in the agreement (Bell) is the weak link and providing a defective product thus in actuality alienating me.
So, since I have no leverage with Bell I figure if I start emailing Canadian Tire, Primus, Subway, Home Hardware, etc (along with the network in question) and informing them that they are spending money to get their message to me via ExpressVu and ExpressVu is charging me for a defective product therefore I wont be purchasing any of the advertisers product.

Like I said, it's really the only leverage I have. Hopefully if the advertisers and networks start feeling some heat they will transfer some of that heat to Bell.

PS. Notice this weekend that the football games were freezing but the commercials ran great, ya, gotta love that, goes to show where the real priority lies.

"Since I bought my receiver and it's off warranty I have no leverage and the only other provider in my city is Shaw and their 6 channels of HD."

Too bad you can't see the SC satellites as F.S. has new DSR505 receivers on sale this week

Mr.Perfect I think you have the perfect idea. I have to admit that I'm guilty of not even considering Star Choice, I followed them a bit a few years ago but seemed like they had some issues with their hardware.
Perhaps I will drift over to that board and see whats going on, thanks for the idea! :D

You DO have some leverage!! If contact BEV @ 1-866-317-3382. This is their "executive" customer service # They DO have an exchange policy!!
They will likley offer you $250.00 for your 6100.
I got this tel# from the CRTC after sending the CRTC a complaint.
Again BEV KNOWS that this problem exists, and simply exchanging one 6100 for another will not fix the problem. You HAVE to push and push hard!!

BTW my 6100 is also off warranty, I bought it about a year and a half ago.

Sigh, your right pheonix, email was sent off to CRTC, here we go!

Sometimes I think it's all about wearing down a customer with problems, just keep putting off a customer until they finally say the heck with it all and simply go away.

It's frustrating, with new born in the house and a demanding job all I want is to plop myself in front of audio/video equipment (that I spent alot of money on) and watch a little bit of HD once and a while. :(
Dosn't seem like much to ask for, but the aggravation one gets from missing NFL plays because of video freezing and Canadian broadcasters who want to intercept US feeds and insert SD commercials for furniture stores 400 miles from where I live.....well, it's frustrating.

PS: For the record, I've been over on the StarChoice forums and I don't get a comforting feeling that moving to them would be a guaranteed improvement.

It is all about wearing the customer down. They know a vast majority will just give up and live with it. I am guilty of this. Spent 18 years with Roger's terrible reception problems. I lost track of how many times they came out to "check things" and pronounce everything ok. I finally switched to Bell a year ago and upgraded to HD in October. I have had billing problems, freezing problems, a questionable installation that took 3 trips to correct. Right now I am just waiting it out hoping it gets better. As far as I can tell Rogers and Star Choice aren't trouble free either. I tell you OTA looks real good now. I am having a tough time convincing my wife that an antenna is the way to go. LOL By the way the guy in The Toronto Star gives the over/under on Global missed touch downs this weekend at 3 1/2. Sad thing is he probably isn't far off. We can only hope they stop the sim subs like last weekend. Keep checking Seattle feeds. Last weekend all 4 games switched back. For me it was almost totally freeze free then.