Man, the PQ has plummeted recently. I never used to notice macroblocking very often and now I notice it all the time.

Watching a musical performance on Conan the other night, the flashing colored lights wreaked havoc on the already poor compression.

Seems to be getting worse and worse with every new channel and service.

I'm with you on that. Here in Kelowna I got serious breakup on superbowl in and out of commercials, then afterwards on nbc as well. Also picture on the superbowl was soft. Since it's the same mnf crew/cams I used to drool over on shaw I've got to conclude there are bandwidth issues. I also find most of whats on cbc hd very soft,hd or sd. I'm missing the old days (pre cbchd, tsnhd).

I could not agree with you more.

I'mu sure my eye has somewhat gotten used to HD and I know what to expect from it, but quality just isn't as good as it used to be.

I am going to call Shaw about this issue and, believe it or not, after complaining for 18 months about the number of channels, I will ask that they hold back on any further addition in the name of quality.

I am glad we have the channels we have. I can now honestly say I'm not missing out on much HD content at all, but I'm right at the point where I don't want to compromise on PQ anymore.

If you watch the Leafs game on Saturday night, the Superbowl on Sunday and even the intro for CSI Miami tonight, you will find that we're officially in EDTV territory.

I have also notice the PQ getting worse. I notice allot more compression artifacts now, MCHD used to be one of the best HD channels and now it looks horrible. The only channel that doesn't seem to be compressed as much is CTVHD. I hope this is just a temporary issue until Shaw upgrades their system.

I hope this is just a temporary issue until Shaw upgrades their system.
And when will that happen? Never heard anything about an upgrade.

And when will that happen? Never heard anything about an upgrade.

That's why I don't want any new channels. If I thought an upgrade was forthcoming, I would continue to put pressure for new channels (such as Discovery HD), but I don't think it's going to happen any time soon. Adding new channels would mortgage PQ indefinitely. Don't want that.

So, in a word: no new channels until something happens on the bandwidth side of things.

but quality just isn't as good as it used to be

Maybe the bandwidth is better in my area? I was looking at several of the channels yesterday and trying to imagine how the picture could possibly look any better. Several of the programs looked stunning! Sometimes I see a lesser quality, but it seems to be the particular program, rather than the channel. I rarely get any pixelation.

I'm in Surrey, B.C.

meshmellow

Upgrades are in the works in Vancouver. They upgraded all the amplifiers in the Fairview Slopes area last week.

I will have to agree with meshmellow quality in my area is outstanding. For those not wanting more HD channels shame on you

Compression artifacts are most obvious in darker scenes and in backgrounds. Red for some reason shows up worst when allot of compression is used. CRTs tend to hide compression artifacts better than microdisplays. On my display (JVC HD-ILA) the compression artifacts stick out like a sore thumb. I don't know if it's always been there and I am only noticing it now because I am looking for it, Or if indeed it has been getting worse.

I will have to agree with meshmellow quality in my area is outstanding. For those not wanting more HD channels shame on you

Easy to say if everything is fine in your neck of the woods.

I did not buy a system worth almost 10Gs to watch pixels the size of a postage stamp. For saying more HD is the answer to that, well... you said it.

Oh yes, shame on me for not wanting and loving hd lite so we can get more stations showing the same programming. Comon, HD is ALL about quality. If thats not why you got into it ok but I guarantee it's why most adopters did. I guess we'll really see the difference when hd dvd/bd starts to roll out. I can watch dvhs recordings of mchd movies from 8 months ago and these are far better quality than whats on shaw currently. NO new channels should be added untill upgrades are complete.

I love it Clancy. HD Lite... just like Shaw "not so extreme" for internet speed. They should market that. Apparently, some people here would sign up right away.

I can already picture the commercial.

Why pay for HD when you can see the same thing for less? Introducing HD Lite. It's almost as good as HDTV, at a fraction of the price. Finally, a signal you can feed to your EDTV.

LOL

Other then our own eyes do we have proof that they are compressing the signal more then before? PQ seems to vary from program to program channel to channel.

The last few MC recordings that I've transferred have definitely had a lower bit rate. They've gone from about 6GB/hr to about 5GB/hr.

Proof as in an admission from Shaw, no. But there does seem to be a direct correlation to channel additions and a loss od detail on programs like LOST, CSI, NFL and movies on MCHD. This was some of the most detailed hd , now its just ok. I've seen instances where after commercials the program comes back very detailed then shifts to a softer picture after 1-2 seconds. Sure this is anecdotal but combined with the previous argument shaw gave for not adding hd channels-limited bandwidth-then channels appear, and it seems pretty obvious whats happening.

Watching the tube tonite-turned past 304 sportsnet HD and voila- Channel 305, CBC-HD.
Now can finally watch some Hockey and Olympics in Hi-def. Awesome.
Maybe my rant of how we get the short end of things did some good?
After emailing Shaw with basically the same thing as my earlier post stated a supervisor from our area called me at home and we had a good discussion. He was extremely pleasant and sympathized with our HD plight but never hinted that something mite happen so soon. He just said they were working on adding more channels but the time frame was anywhere from sometime in the Spring to the Fall. Fairly vague actually. It is just baby steps but I am for now quite satisfied. Now just all the US networks from Seattle so shows can be viewed in primetime and a little TSN-HD in the hopefully no too distant future and my TV life will be good.
So maybe big companies do listen to the little guy once in a while.
It was probably going to happen anyway but it sure makes me feel better.
Leafs in Hi-def, life don't get much sweeter. At least now if they lose they'll lose in Hi-Def.

As an mts customer not happy with the service I would like to hear from people in winnipeg about hd picture quality etc.

As an mts customer not happy with the service I would like to hear from people in winnipeg about hd picture quality etc.


Definite decrease in quality over the last few months. Macoblocking and other artifacts are becoming more common (CSI Miami on Monday was dreadful....)
I sent an e-mail to Shaw about this and I got back a reponse that they are 'not aware' of any decrease in HD quality.. I call BS on that.

Could this have something to do with AGC readings in the diag menu? I don't recall what they once were, but they seem to consistantly be in the mid 70's (fair) now.

Having said all this, I'll still take Shaw over MTS....

Definite decrease in quality over the last few months. Macoblocking and other artifacts are becoming more common

I have to wonder how many of these issues are problems with the HD boxes and not with Shaw itself. Both myself and a friend of mine were having the issues above for quite some time and complained to Shaw. A tech came out, replaced both of our boxes (at no cost) and now neither of us have had ANY issues for the past 2 weeks. No macroblocking, no aritifacts, nothing.
I don't think the quality has been decreasing at all. If it has, I can't see any difference at all.