I got some sort of tech taking a look at my case personally at shaw, he calls me couple times a week, came out to my place, all in regards of sound drop out, pixalation, macroblocking etc etc.. now its the second time it happens on me, all the menus on my guide go out of wack,, like i'm really up to my limits with shaw,, ill let him know next time when he call me, like ive been patient enough with them,, its disscount on my tv until the problem is resolved or im packing it up, ebay, and going to go back to bev without HD :(

Watching HD programming last night, I was getting macroblocking even on static scenes.

American Idol has got to be the worse for macroblocking,, especially when theres alot of flashing in the scene,, everything just goes to sh***

American Idol has got to be the worse for macroblocking,, especially when theres alot of flashing in the scene,, everything just goes to sh***
Agreed 100%. It is what I reference when I email a complaint.

I was watching MCHD this morning - I can't remember the movie - but the marcoblocking was the worst I have ever seen on any channel. I think MC is getting worse. Has anyone else noticed this?

On another note, I think the audio drop outs are less frequent, but longer now.
I agree, I've been getting drop outs as long as five to seven seconds.

I hate watching anything recorded on my rooms tv (Shaw's HD PVR) as those audio dropouts always have to occur on the best moments of a film or show :eek:
My wife is not impressed and wants us off from Shaw... (Its been going since we got Shaw on February); 2 months of crap TV is enough...

It is extremely disappointing that Shaw seems to have abandoned its cable tv operations to focus on phone and other services. That's the only reason I can see for the poor product they provide and lack of care and lack of responses to the problems their customers are experiencing. I just wish there was some alternative to them in Calgary other than satellite. As long as they have a monopoly, they will continue to provide a sub-par product and there is virtually nothing customers can do about it. Sad. :(

I suggest if your really unhappy with Shaw then switch to Bell ExpressVu or Star Choice. I have bell and quality both SD and HD is up to standard. If your REALLY picky about quality I would suggest Star Choice. Becuse they have a little edge on Bell in that department.

You wouldn't think Shaw would bleed HD customers from its cable operations to its satellite operations on purpose? What could they gain from that, except some headroom to wait on infrastructure upgrades...?

I don't think they would intentionally do it at all. They don't make a point of pointing out the relationship for a reason.

Just another reason why the CRTC is a joke.

I have the new Pace hd box and I have a new Samsung plasma. I notice a slight stutter in the picture during hd programming, more noticable during sports. Is this common with shaw or can it be the tv ?

When my Panasonic plasma was new I had the same thing. It was an HDMI issue. Every once in awhile I'd have to unconnect-reconnect.

Try that.

I have the new Pace hd box and I have a new Samsung plasma. I notice a slight stutter in the picture during hd programming, more noticable during sports. Is this common with shaw or can it be the tv ?
Also ensure the resolution settings on the DCT are matched as close as possible to the native resolution of your TV. This will allow both devices to not get over-worked.

Anyone else having severe ISSUES with CBSHD channels? Or just me and my area? I have been trying to watch the NCAA basketball all afternoon and its absolutely unwatchable. The worse I have seen these channels.

Thanks

Just you. Det and Sea are both great here. Only problem is Seattle's audio. Poor tonight, so I'm watching 206.

I'm having some audio problems on BEV as well earlier tonight. But man the games look great, I like how they are airing them in 1080i instead of 720p. :P

CBC HD is unwatchable since yesterday evening here in North Vancouver.

It's a mix of macroblocking and some kind of snow effect I haven't seen before. Mostly white pixels with some other colors mixed in, and then a few purple blocks, goes back to looking like snow again.

I called last week and they sent out a technician. The guy was really nice and checked my lines and box out, no problems at all. I have the strongest signal possible (40db) and the box itself was fine.

Interesting thing is the guy was quite talkative ... turns out that the major problems we have been having here (I don't know if this applies elsewhere) is that we are 'piggybacking' off the transmission stations in Burnaby. When they make a change there, boosting the signals for Burnaby subscribers or what have you, it usually screws up service over here. You might have heard about it on the BCTV news when the 'nucks game was cut off a few weeks ago.

Anyway, he knew he was wasting his time checking my lines/box out as the macroblocking and sound drops offs have nothing to do with that, it's all due to the problems they are having with thier infrastructure.

I called up tonight and got the shpiel about how they know it's a problem, and when it's fixed they will apply some kind of credit to everyone effected. Told them that wasn't acceptable, I'm not paying for a service I'm not getting. Anyway, long story short, they credited my account a month's cable/hd service. So I'll give them at least that to get it right, though I'm not holding my breath. If not I'll have to go Bell.

I hope they do fix it, judging from the posts in the ExpressVu forums, it will be like going from the frying pan into the fire. :(

Retrievil, why would you worry too much about CBC HD, at least from North Van, there shouldn't be any problems getting the CBC HD over-the-air signal at full HD quality. The picture and signal is perfect as always.

I called and spoke with a HD technical rep tonight who was actually really good and gave me more information than usual. He said they just received an update email today about the audio dropping on HD channels and the email said the problem has been "resolved" except channels 210,211, 212, 218 and 222... I repeated again and again and again that the problems were with HD but ALSO SD channels as well, the SD has been going on since last September too and now i am getting the same audio drops on channel 11, which i only watch for local news. He is going to be getting back to me with more information because he never heard of SD audio problems. Hopefully he does, after my Center Ice is over with Shaw, there's not much to keep me with them.

My guess is that 'resolution'(if there really is one) is only in a certain area as I still have audio drops on all of the HD channels (and more and more SD ones too) here in Calgary. Where are you located, JeffCor?