The purpose of this thread is to discuss HD Channels and Programming on Shaw Cable in a constructive and intelligent fashion.

Up front, lets be very clear: Shaw is one of the worst providers of HD Channels in the country.

Why? From a business perspective, Shaw feels there is little or no return to be made from HD in this country AT this time. Please note that only about 4% of Canadians have all the necessary equipment to watch HD.

This means that 96% therefore the result is that Shaw has invested its resources in building out Digital Phone and is expected to continue on by investing in Wireless after that.

If you would like to complain ad nauseaum about the lack of HD programming on Shaw then please use one of the existing threads for that. There are plenty!

Constructive criticism is welcome and encouraged however rants on this thread will be deleted.

To learn more about HDTV on Shaw simply search this forum with the word HDTV and you will find the bulk of your questions answered.

If you would like to engage in a letter writing campaign to Shaw then please review this thread: Shaw members Unite (http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31642)

Please Note:

For threads and discussion about


What programming is in HD please visit the What's On in HD forum (http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=38).
Shaw HD equipment please see the Shaw Motorola 6000 Series Equipment Forum. (http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=67)
Comparisions of Shaw HD Service to others please see the General Cable and Satellite Discussion Forum. (http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=12)

Well summarized Hugh, and a well overdue sub-forum.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Summary of Large Market HD Stations on Shaw

301 Sportsnet HD
302 Movie Central HD (Must subscribe to Movie Central SD)
303 ABC Seattle KOMO
304 CBS Seattle KIRO
305 NBC Seattle KING
306 PBS HD Feed Spokane
307 FOX Seattle KCPQ
308 TSN HD
309 CBC HD CBLT Toronto
310 CTV HD West CIVT (Vancouver Only)

Shaw is one of the worst providers of HD Channels in the country.

How can we be constructive and intelligent in our posts when you summarized it all right there? If you ask me, this thread is closed ;)

BTW, in Winnipeg the lineup is:

301 - Fox Detroit
302 - CBS Detroit
303 - MC HD
304 - Sportsnet HD
305 - PBS North Dakota
306 - NBC Buffalo
307 - ABC Detroit
308 - TSN HD
309 - CBC HD

Well, let's carry on the discussion about why Shaw can't ever seem to be ready to add a channel when other providers are.

A thread has been started and closed in the Shaw forum.

Members were directed to the What's On Forum. I don't think it really belongs there, either. So yes, this sub-forum is welcome.

HiDefBob pointed out that a Shaw tech support person indicated they would "definitely add Discovery HD in the new year". Apparently, a contract has to be put in place.

Of course, the question now becomes: Why do other major providers such as Rogers, Videotron and BEV strat broadcasting the day of the launch while we are fed the "we have to get a contract excuse".

We have known for months that Discovery HD has been approved by the CRTC and would launch in December. Why is Shaw waiting until after the launch to even start talking to those people???????

Knowing how long it took for them to reach an agreement on TSN, who knows how long this might take.

Lets just say the rhetoric around Shaw HD is typically overheated and many members on the forum have told me that they would like a more reasoned overview and/or discussion.

I'm all in favour of a negative thread (hence why we have rant threads) once in a while but I don't think it should infiltrate every thread.

Sometimes a collective effort helps get organizations/institutions/corporations off their butt. Perhaps a designated day for all us Shaw monkeys to email them with our concerns? Or maybe starting an online petition and forwarding it to Shaw after a designated amount of signatures? I dunno - any thoughts?

pcouture,

You have been this forums most vitriolic members towards Shaw and their HD offering. In the past and in the first post of this thread, members and Shaw have continually suggested that HD is not a priority for the company.

Jim Shaw has said that Digital Phone is his first priority followed by Wireless and then maybe HD. This is a legitimate business decision. Maybe its wrong but many shareholders would agree. You're not satisfied with that answer but its the only one you're going to get so please let's keep the rhetoric level down.


acSlayta,

Please see first post for thread entitled Shaw members unite.

Wireless? As in cellular?

Wireless? As in cellular?

No, more along the lines of VoIP, they're telephony business unit.

Nope, wireless as in Cell Phones.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051216/RSHAW16/TPBusiness/Canadian

Darcy

While the business argument may be made for going into telephone and cell products instead of HD, I still have to shake my head and wonder if they truly know how many sat dishes are going up on houses. New expensive homes, old run down homes. They're everywhere. Some people use cell phones, many don't (I don't). But everybody owns a TV. When I walk through any TV sales shop, I almost have to wonder if a new customer would know Shaw even exists. They have stickers right on the TV screen itself advertising Bell. And the channels are ALWAYS tuned to HD channels.

I think from a purely business standpoint you have to wonder about Shaws lack of interest in HD.

Their core customer base right now is people who generally only purchase basic cable. Many apartments come with Shaw basic cable. People on limited incomes or those who don't watch much TV also generally only subscribe to basic cable with Shaw.

Unfortunately, this base is unlikely to grow. It's the people at the front of the technology who are willing to spend the money to get what they want. HD fan(atics) will pay any amount for equipment, PVRs and the right signal to get the channels they want. This market CAN grow. As my children and their children enter the market they are going to be baseing their purchasing decisions on a world filled with technology. They will be used to on-demand movies in the highest possible picture quality. They will want complete flexibility with respect to what, when and how they watch TV - something only possible with a PVR.

I realize Shaw has made a decision to concentrate on VoIP right now but I think ignoring the potential for a growing market share in HD may come back to haunt them. I could even understand it more if they said they were shifting their HD to *Choice but they seem to have ignored those customers too.

I just think you ignore market share at your own peril. Here's hoping I'm wrong because with Shaw out of the competition, Bell can do what they want, charge what they want and mess with their customer service all they want. Bad news for everyone.

Part of me is hoping there is some truth to the rumour of Bell buying Shaw (see other posts in forums or google it). Gives Bell a western market base, bell gets local phone service market, gives "shaw" cell service.

Maybe this would help with some of the access issues to the HD broadcasts, but who knows what would happen to the prices.

Manfrog had started a thread on wishes for SHAW in 2006. Hugh closed that thread and suggested it continue in this thread.

So, as a New Year is upon us I'd also like to thank Shaw for increasing the quantity of the HD services they brought to us in 2005, albeit later than promised by Shaw representative. IMO, cudos also go to SHAW for generally having VERY GOOD customer support.

But, all is not rosy and there's definately room for improvement. Here are my wishes:

1. HD Box rental
There's a thread on this already in the forums but I think this will spur on adoption considerably with the side effect that SHAW will probably start charging for HD... sigh. If they do, I hope they offer an HD service discount for those of us who purchased the boxes outright. :-)

2. Less HD Channel Compression
IMO SHAW's HD channel compression is about as much as I can take and to my eye it got worse when additional channels were added late in 2005. Although additional channels are great, I would not want to see additional channels added at the expense of quality. In fact, I'd like to see the quality increase this year. Mid-term planning should also have begun for offering some 1080p channels. That will be your movie rental competition by early 2007 (my prediction). Invest in infrastructure!

3. SHAW participation in these forums
SHAW management is aware of this forum, why not participate? When I first talked to a CSR Manager in fall 2004 about content on DHC they weren't aware of the web site and seemed quite interested. In recent months when talking to both CSRs and CSR Managers they have been aware of the forums and in one circumstance knew about a particular thread. Forward thinking Corporations encourage their employees to interact with customers via the Web (email, BLOGs, forums), subject to their policies, and this forum is a communication channel to some of SHAW's earliest adopters who are tech savy. What an opportunitiy for them.

4. Better video quality on Canucks PPV
The video quality on Canucks PPV broadcasts should be a source of embarrassment for SHAW. HD would be great but I understand the business dynamics that make that a non-starter right now. That said, why can't I pay for and get good quality SD video? Why is it acceptable that it look worse than other SD hockey games? I don't care if the problem is the equipment in GM Place, the uplink, SHAW's equipment, etc... fix it. I've grown tired of complaining about it and I won't pay for it next year as it is now.

That's it, not much to ask for, right? ;-)

Happy New Year!

In fact, I'd like to see the quality increase this year. Mid-term planning should also have begun for offering some 1080p channels. That will be your movie rental competition by early 2007 (my prediction). Invest in infrastructure!



Thats rediculous, there is no such thing as a 1080p HDTV. It is not a recognized format for broadcast, ANYWHERE and since the amount of 1080p-capable televisions is practically none, I dont think we will see it realized for quite some years. This is out of Shaw's hands anyway, they are limited to the resoultion that the broadcasters use.

Even if it did exist, the bandwidth requirements would be astronomical (like double what they are now) and if Shaw cant give us more than 10 heavily compressed channels, It not even on their radar.

I work for CIVT and I can tell you the HD isn't going anywhere. CIVT was the first to broadcast in HD, mostly to gear up for the 2010 Olympics. They also wanted to be the "first" local station that broadcasts HD OTA and in Cable. For better or worse, it's hear to stay. (BTW) I asked the engineers why the gray bars? Other than wanting to be different, and distinguishing the HD from SD was all I got...sorry.

Thats rediculous, there is no such thing as a 1080p HDTV. It is not a recognized format for broadcast, ANYWHERE ....

The ATSC format, the standard for digital TV broadcasts in the US and Canada does include support for Over-The-Air broadcasts for 1080p at 24 and 30Hz refresh rates. No broadcaster has elected to broadcast in either of these formats to my knowledge but the claim that they are not a recognized format for broadcast is incorrect. To be correct you have to add at 60Hz to the 1080p.

Does anyone know for sure that shaw is recompressing hd signals? I'm not disputing that and it certainly would explain why there is suddenly more bandwidth for more hd channels to be added. I would prefer fewer channels with higher resolution if thats the case, I'm just not sure it is. Some hd programming seems soft (mostly on cbc and fox)and some stunning (world juniors, cbs nfl, some movies on mchd...not all). My memory says thats the way it always has been, quality varies.

4. Better video quality on Canucks PPV
The video quality on Canucks PPV broadcasts should be a source of embarrassment for SHAW. HD would be great but I understand the business dynamics that make that a non-starter right now. That said, why can't I pay for and get good quality SD video? Why is it acceptable that it look worse than other SD hockey games? I don't care if the problem is the equipment in GM Place, the uplink, SHAW's equipment, etc... fix it. I've grown tired of complaining about it and I won't pay for it next year as it is now.

Sadly, tis not shaws falt. Remember, those games are broadcast to theaters to, and shaw isn't the one that provides it, they just carry it.

Discovery HD likely will show up on Shaw at some point. I don't really think its a contract issue specific to Shaw, I think they are still working out a distribution agreement and technical details with their other company CANCOM, which will likely be the supplier of the feed.

In regards to 1080p, the boxes currently deployed by Shaw do not support 1080p. They support 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i