So I just found channel 80.3 had A&E HD and 80.4 Discovery HD. That was yesterday, today - gone. So I called Shaw "What's up with this?" An error occured and they forgot to encrypt it. But don't worry we caught the mistake. Nooooooooooooooo!! Nuts. Apparently it had been free for 2 FUGGING MONTHS!
So they can pump the HD down the pipe without a Motorola STB if they want to eh? I of course have an ATSC tuner in my Sony SXRD so damned if I'm gonna buy the STB now. Word is X-mas time if you have that tuner you won't need that STB. About time.

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

It's the QAM tuner that's usually used for Cable, not ATSC, however, it will remain useless with the major service providers in Canada for some time to come, probably years.

There is no "word" about no STB - where did you hear that?

The ATSC tuner is used for OTA 8VSB, not cable, which (usually) uses QAM.

I spoke with the shaw rep. I'm refering to the Motoral HD box when I say STB. I have basic cable. I was suprised to see the two HD channels pumped thru my basic cable subscription. How was I getting this then? I was just about to go buy the Mororola box , but no more . I'll wait till January , as was suggested by the Shaw rep , and get the HD thru my TV's internal tuner. Why waste nearly $500 by impatiance? Whats another month or two at this rate?

Yes, Shaw has had Discovery HD free on 82.3 here in Edmonton for awhile. The "need" to have a Motorola box reminds me of the early days of cable TV where you had to rent their cable converter to receive anything. Eventually, all TV's were manufactured with built-in converters & the rented boxes were not needed unless you wanted Pay-TV channels. I think the CRTC needs to have its butt kicked into gear to look into this.

How was I getting this then?The answer to that question is in the FAQ I referenced earlier.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=32271

Nothing that we know of is going to happen in January, or for several years which will negate the need for a digital STB in Canada from major service providers.

CableCARD is in use in the US (although if you do a search for CableCARD on this site, you will see it's not in use much and has a number of problems). However, no CableCARD is scheduled for Canada.

Please realize that many CSRs often provide incorrect information.

Why then don't you ask a Shaw rep yourself? His he full of S***? I see no reason as to why he would disuade me from buying a Motorola .His mission statement ultimatly is to sell me their service.

I'm not a Shaw customer, however, please feel free to call Shaw back and get a different CSR with a different answer from what you heard earlier, when there may have been some sort of miscommunication.

nutsnbolts, feel free to wait til jan. All that will happen in jan is that you will realize that you have missed out on 3 months of HD viewing. Shaw will NOT be offering HD decoding through your set's tuner. The CSR you spoke with is out to lunch. Unfortnately many CSR's are. History has demonstrated that MOST of the time CSR's learn of changes from customers...most of them from this forum. Which means that when Shaw does offer HD through your set's tuner it will be YOU calling the CSR to tell HIM.

I have DiscHD on channel 78.2 on my ATSC tuner. They are also testing digital equivalents of analog channel on 111 & 112 (Global, Shaw TV, RDI, TVA, Bravo) On 112.10 they are testing a 3 by 2 multiscreen of all 4 Sportsnet feeds on one channel [maybe for NCAA basketball time???] Unfortunately they are still blacking out the Canuck games in Calgary on the multiscreen channel.

cgyclaytonmagnet, do I recall correctly that Shaw were using the ATSC frequencies a while back? Are you picking these up on ATSC or QAM? I thought they had stopped that practice of testing using ATSC (8-VSB). I don't believe it's legal for them to use 8VSB since they are not a broadcaster.

I know that some of the very small cable companies in the US use/used 8VSB.

well you lot are guessing just as much as he/she is.

what i find interesting is that in Jan they are beginning to charge for the HD channels, so maybe they feel as they are doing this they will add them to the normal basic digital receiver aswell.

i will be watching to see myself...

cgyclaytonmagnet, do I recall correctly that Shaw were using the ATSC frequencies a while back? Are you picking these up on ATSC or QAM? I thought they had stopped that practice of testing using ATSC (8-VSB).

My bad on using the term ATSC versus QAM. I'm using a DVICO Fusion HDTV5 Gold card on my cable connection. You are correct that they are using 256 QAM on all but 2 digital channels which are using 64 QAM. I think it is interesting that they are testing digital equivalents for analog channels. I haven't seen any 8-VSB on shaw since I bought the card.
I've stated before that they have 2 or 3 (mostly 3) HD channels per analog channel, 15 Shaw on Demand per analog (total of 3 x 15 = 45 on Demand slots available at a time), 10 digital channels per analog, and 30 digital audio stations per analog.

well you lot are guessing just as much as he/she is.

what i find interesting is that in Jan they are beginning to charge for the HD channels, so maybe they feel as they are doing this they will add them to the normal basic digital receiver aswell.

i will be watching to see myself...

Thats pretty much what I figures gonna happen. They have to push forward on HD availabilty if the public is expected to buy all this new technology.

Hi there, I don't see Shaw letting the channels go through the pipleline for long without shutting it down. It is in their interest to sell us Dct's and all the cable companies in North America have gone down this route, as far as I know. Buy the dct and subscribe to the service.

If by chance they let some run through the wire and the people with the digital tuners can get them, I think it will be for a limited time only.

If by chance you guys with the tuners are lucky to receive them, I would suggest keeping it quiet as the powers that be Im sure frequent DHC and will not like people getting the channels, without buying a Dct and subscribing.

If you get em, power to you and enjoy....

It is highly unlikely (actually downright impossible) for Shaw or any service provider to offer "good" digital signals unencrypted. There would be no need for anyone to pay for the digital services, or the STBs because people could purchase QAM tuners as stand-alones, or as PC cards, or TVs with QAM tuners.

This will simply never happen because the service provider would be bankrupt in a year.

I have no idea what the CSR was talking about, but I can guarantee that there will not be unencrypted channels (of any significance, or outside testing or free preview).

In the US the cable service providers provide the local HD channels unencrypted, however, that's by law and also because people can access most locals OTA in the US, while in Canada almost no local HD is available OTA (at this time, outside Toronto) By offering the locals "free", it keeps the cable customers, who might decide to migrate completely to OTA.

It is highly unlikely (actually downright impossible) for Shaw or any service provider to offer "good" digital signals unencrypted. There would be no need for anyone to pay for the digital services, or the STBs because people could purchase QAM tuners as stand-alones, or as PC cards, or TVs with QAM tuners.

This will simply never happen because the service provider would be bankrupt in a year.Where I live, digital cable for the non-premium channels is virtually the same price as analogue ($49 vs $51/month), not including the rental or purchase of the STB.
Besides, can they not block Digital to homes that haven't paid for that service?

Besides, can they not block Digital to homes that haven't paid for that service?The way that the digital signals are "blocked" is by encrypting the channels.

A person with a digital STB must then have that STB activated and the particular channels he subscibes to will then be "allowed" by the STB. Each household can then have basically whatever digital channels they want.

The problem with analogue was that filters had to be placed on the line to the home to prevent certain groups of channels from "flowing" if you didn't subscribe. With digital the STB acts as a "key" to allow each individual channel to either be allowed or not allowed, by encryption.

In the US a CableCARD can be used as the "key" to allow the tuning of the channels, by the TVs internal QAM tuner. CabelCARD is not in use in Canada. Even in the US, CableCARD is used in only about 3% of TVs so equipped, since people use cable STBs, satellite STBs, or receive their channels OTA. In the US, the local HD channels are usually unencrypted on Cable.

I just ordered basic cable, and I've got a HDTV with a built-in QAM tuner... I've ran the channel scan to see what I can get... here are my results.

I'm able to get 36 digital music channels (the ones commonly found in the 400's on shaw DCTs) on digital ch.63 subchannels 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 31, 32, 36, 37, 39, 40. Digital ch.64 subchannel 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 37, and 38.

CBC HD is on ch.79.12 (clear QAM256) however there's no audio at all. The PQ is less than digital OTA :P
Ch.92 subchannel 11, 12, 13 are just black, but showing up as a locked on channels (also QAM256)... maybe preview channels or VOD?
Ch.106 subchannel 2 (QAM256) is MusiMax (french MuchMusic?) however there are frequent errors, causing the picture to be come pixelized and audio to pause, but maintains a lock, with a db of 35, AGC of 41%. subchannel 3 is MusiquePlus (french MuchMoreMusic?), again suffers from the same errors.

I've checked the shaw website, and I don't even see where paying digital cable viewers can tune to those french music video channels. Are they clearQAM only?

A question to DHC'ers who are able to get clearQAM. Should I call Shaw and ask about getting CBC-HD and the two french music channels fixed (maybe they don't know they're mute and error laden respectivly). Or should I just keep quiet and not potentially spoil it and the free digital music channels for everyone.

That's all for free digital via QAM sans DCT.

I wouldn't be calling Shaw at all. As far as I know you're getting these in error. Its the old "f you're up to your neck in **** and are warm and happy, don't open your mouth to complain" scenario.

quick question for blakew, what other services are you getting from shaw -
internet, phone ?