I'm in the Vancouver area and just ordered a New Samsung 6168W 1080p DLP. Can I, or will I ever be able to, view digital or HD Shaw cable with out paying for a Set top box that is supposedly built into my new TV?

Well anything is possible. But I doubt it for the forseeable future. Try a search on the Shaw thread. Seems to me one of our members was picking up a signal (and broader than the selection sent to the box) until Shaw discovered it was possible.

I'm in the Vancouver area and just ordered a New Samsung 6168W 1080p DLP. Can I, or will I ever be able to, view digital or HD Shaw cable with out paying for a Set top box that is supposedly built into my new TV?

Shaw has no plans to implement the cablecard option in the near future. You will be stuck buying the extra box.

Even if the TV has a QAM tuner, all Canadian Cable companies scramble their digital signals, so, no, you will have to get a STB. You may be able to pick up some "preview" channels that are unscrambled.

As mentioned earlier, CableCard is not an option in Canada yet.

Before the dumping on Shaw gets in full gear, from what I understand its not much of an option anywhere.

They are required to have CableCard working in the US, however, many people have had problems with it due to certain "incompatibilities" with the TV hardware, etc.

Also, in the US people with QAM tuners can currently get any "OTA-type" channels on their cable systems without a STB or any charge. Premium channels require CableCard or a STB.

The situation is totally different in Canada.

Shaw and rogers already publically stated they will not support 1 way cable card.

There are some digital channels on Shaw which are sent in the clear (unencrypted) which you could likely receive with a cable card or QAM tuner. However any digital channels that require a subscription you couldn't get, unless you get one from the cable company with the proper decryption hardware, which Shaw does not provide.

You would be able to get any unencrypted channels with a QAM tuner, however, since Shaw doesn't support CableCARD, you won't be able to use CableCARD since it must be obtained from the service provider!

See the Digital Home FAQ "Can I get Digital Cable...".

Any idea which digital channels Shaw (Calgary) is providing unencrypted?

Any idea which digital channels Shaw (Calgary) is providing unencrypted?


I get a bunch of music channels, and some sports (TSN or Sportsnet, not sure which since I dont really watch that) and some Muchmusic channel or other when I do a QAM scan on my TV. Not much worth getting excited about. Some claim to get their neighbor's VOD channels too, I havent seen any of those.

I get a bunch of music channels, and some sports (TSN or Sportsnet, not sure which since I dont really watch that) and some Muchmusic channel or other when I do a QAM scan on my TV. Not much worth getting excited about. Some claim to get their neighbor's VOD channels too, I havent seen any of those.Do you get the regular broadcast channels?
Why I'm curious is that I'm planning to get a new HDTV which will have a cablecard slot, so I'm assuming QAM support too. If I plug in the cable to this tv and subscribe to shaw digital, will I be able to see the normal broadcast channels? If so, there may be a possibility I can record them via the firewire connection on this particular HDTV. (JVC 61FC97)

If I plug in the cable to this tv and subscribe to shaw digital, will I be able to see the normal broadcast channels? I'm not sure what you mean by "normal" but as indicated earlier and in the FAQ referenced in post 9, most digital channels are encrypted.

I get a bunch of music channels, and some sports (TSN or Sportsnet, not sure which since I dont really watch that) and some Muchmusic channel or other when I do a QAM scan on my TV.

I'm not sure what you mean by "normal" but as indicated earlier and in the FAQ referenced in post 9, most digital channels are encrypted.By "Normal" Broadcast channels I mean non-specialty "if you had a big enough antenna you could get them for free" channels.

Of course, as stty0 said, some but not all channels are encrypted. I'm just trying to find out if anyone knows SPECIFICALLY which channels for Shaw Cable Calgary are NOT encrypted....
I'm sure I'll find out soon enough.

By "Normal" Broadcast channels I mean non-specialty "if you had a big enough antenna you could get them for free" channels.

I'd like to see OTA channels both SD and HD (if applicable) available unencrypted. If this was the case, I might see about subscribing to basic cable.

The question I have is this. With Shaw going all digital, their channels 2-59 (typically analog) now digital, would these be all encrypted, or just speciality channels?

Any shaw subscribers with a HDTV w/QAM tuner that live in a area that has already switched over to all digital? Do you get anything?

It is very likely that all the digital channels will be encrypted. There are a few channels that are not encyrpted - like music, etc, however, they are not the channels that are of most interest to people.

Please remember that areas that are "all channels digital" also still have all the analogue channels for any analogue TVs, VCRs, DVD Recorders, etc.

In cowtown, since the channel shuffle, only the digital music channels (401 -440) and channel 330 PPV preview barker channel are not encrypted. I haven't seen a VOD in weeks, but maybe no one is ordering VOD in my area.

Do you get the regular broadcast channels?
Why I'm curious is that I'm planning to get a new HDTV which will have a cablecard slot, so I'm assuming QAM support too. If I plug in the cable to this tv and subscribe to shaw digital, will I be able to see the normal broadcast channels? If so, there may be a possibility I can record them via the firewire connection on this particular HDTV. (JVC 61FC97)

Nope. As I stated, you will get mostly music channels, maybe 1 or 2 others. All the digital channels are encrypted QAM, which QAM tuners cannot decrypt. My TV at least lets me specify analog and digital (QAM) in a scan, so I get all the analog channels plus the clear-QAM ones.

Pretty sad, as Rogers provides many digital channels in the clear, including HD ones, if I am not mistaken. Most US providers do as well, to combat losing customers to OTA, I think.

In a way, it's rather a shame that none of the Canadian MSOs are supporting CableCARD. They are really quite nice -- and the multi-stream cards are even better. Here's hoping that Shaw, Rogers et. al. will start to support CableCARD when the next generation of set-tops from Motorola and SA start hitting the street.

...Rogers provides many digital channels in the clear, including HD ones, if I am not mistaken. You are mistaken. Rogers Ontario has no HD channels unencrypted. Although there are "many" digital channels unencrypted, they would not suffice for someone to be "happy" with those. Also, this can change at any time and they could encrypt them all.

See the Digital Home FAQ (under help) "Can I get Digital Cable?"