I was in Edmonton a couple of weekends ago and I noticed the same macroblocking I get here.

anybody watched the diving olympic trials? very bad macroblocking during every dive, yeah, I know that a lot changes in the screen but still the macroblocking was extremely severe... I didn't notice nearly any later in the evening when they did the gymnastics trials instead

The last few days I have noticed the macroblocking and audio dropouts to a lot worse than normal, on all HD chanels. If its still like this when I get home after work, I'm calling up to complain. Anybody else notice this... or is it just my tv?

No things have been extremly bad of late. The audio dropouts seem longer than ever and the macroblocking is as usual, that is to say persistent and horrible.
I'm off Thursday and planning to make a call.
Plus my Motorola box delays are getting maddening.

Anyone get that phone call from Shaw yesterday? I got a call which I never picked up. I knew it was Shaw and they were going to ramble on about their audio drop-out fixing. It never mentioned anything about video issues though. Do they not know ?????

Anyways the message stated that , "we are please to announce that 7 of our HD channels are now completely fixed from audio dropouts....channels 204, 208, 218, 219, 222, 223 and 228" LOL pleased to announce? He went on to say the next update will be in the middle of July and this has taken them longer than anticipated? My issues have been ongoing since I got Shaw roughly 7-8 month ago?? How much time does it take.

Ugh. No mention of my video complaints etc. :eek:

stationg, where are you located? I've posted before that I haven't experienced too many problems, but I have to say channel 228 last Sunday wasn't watchable due to signal drops.

Anyone get that phone call from Shaw yesterday? I got a call which I never picked up. I knew it was Shaw and they were going to ramble on about their audio drop-out fixing. It never mentioned anything about video issues though. Do they not know ?????

Anyways the message stated that , "we are please to announce that 7 of our HD channels are now completely fixed from audio dropouts....channels 204, 208, 218, 219, 222, 223 and 228" LOL pleased to announce? He went on to say the next update will be in the middle of July and this has taken them longer than anticipated? My issues have been ongoing since I got Shaw roughly 7-8 month ago?? How much time does it take.

Ugh. No mention of my video complaints etc. :eek:
To be honest, I don't really watch very much TV in the summer aside from the odd baseball game, but the kids and/or the wife have it on in the background and I'm sure I've noticed several drops lately (my ears are tuned to it now). I'll have to pay attention to what channel they are watching.

stationg, where are you located? I've posted before that I haven't experienced too many problems, but I have to say channel 228 last Sunday wasn't watchable due to signal drops.
Wow! So now you can understand what the rest of us have been dealing with. This probably isn't the same thing but at least you can't say you haven't had any problems. In a way I am saddened by this as it means that even people who are supposedly 'not affected' can indeed suffer too. I guess it just means there is a long time to wait for all the bugs to get worked out at Shaw.

Jetranger I never said I haven't had any problems. I had them years ago, but they were fixed except for the occasional sound drops. What I have said is that it doesn't appear to be a consistent systemic network wide problem. I have also said in the past that there could be many reasons for the problems including the acquisition of new networks and their integration to the main system to homeowner setups. Which speaks to your last point. Yes, it might take a while for all this issues to be resolved. Last night I had multiple HD channels pixelating with sounds drops and channel 21 was frozen. I was running two HD sets at the same time and am curious to test again to see if this was the issue or a one time occurrence. That being said, I basically happy as a clam with my Shaw service.

Edit: Follow-up. Wifey was watching SD on set #1 (The Sony) last night while I was attempting to watch TSN HD on set#2 (The Toshiba). She noticed some PQ problems with channel 14, but nothing extreme. I just got home and put both sets on 214. Set 1, no problem. Set 2, pixelation (although not as severe as yesterday). This leads me to conclude I am experiencing a signal loss on set #2. Either from the splitter at the junction box, a loose connection, a bad component cable, or that my 5100 DCT is going. Either that or it is an ID10T error!

Just to put things in perspective here in Vancouver: I have a third PVR, have had three techs change cabling in, and outside, of the house, and whenever they visit my signal strength is optimum.

I get picture, and audio, problems on most of the channels that I watch, which includes all HD from 200 to 228, all digital, and some of the analog channels. These are not idiot issues, unless you are referring to the people who are pretending to fix the problem at Shaw!

I just moved to Vancouver from Lincoln, NE. I had Time Warner Cable there, and didn't realize how good I had it. Here you get the horrible, awkward DVR software on an underpowered and expensive Motorola box and the heavy compression on some channels is incredibly distracting. I'm also getting the audio dropouts on my Motorola 3416.

I'm thinking of switching to Novus (which is available in my building). While technically they have the bandwidth to provide better quality HD than Shaw, the question is do they really provide good quality HD? Anyone know?

Watching the Euro Cup this Sunday - the SD TSN channel, other than being stretched, looked better than the HD one. Macroblocking, freezes, audio drops - this is NOT HD TV!

Shaw is pulling in $100 million per month - the least they could do is offer actual HD service, not this crap on a plate they claim is "high def". Bleh.

I'm calling every month for a tech until I see results.

Yes, this weekend has been incredibly bad. ShowcaseHD had Batman Begins on last ngiht and there was video noice in freaking still shots. If someone so much as walked it's like watching a DIVX file.

I pretty much compare $hawHD to youtube. The quality is literally that bad. I'm scared to call them because I'm a pretty mild mannered guy but I fear I will just lose my mind on some poor CSR or excuse making supervisor.

Update to my earlier note. I unplugged/re-plugged my 5100DCT. After it finished downloading, my pixelation issues ended. Life is good again.

Not for long, it'll be back soon.

:(

Another shill has infiltrated our ranks. You know who I mean (moderator)!

I'm thinking of switching to Novus (which is available in my building). While technically they have the bandwidth to provide better quality HD than Shaw, the question is do they really provide good quality HD? Anyone know?

Although we might both be accused of straying off-topic, I would like to know about Novus as well. It is available in my building too.

Hey Melville, if you've got something to say, come out and say it.

Nanuuk has done nothing wrong. He is just telling you the problems you are having are not system wide. I am in the same boat as Nanuuk. My shaw cable is fine other than the odd audio drop out . I have had HD since the first days Shaw had it available. 5 other people I work with also went to Shaw after seeing my setup. They are all happy as well. I am saddened that you are having issues. Just don't get down on those of us who have a signal that is acceptable.
You should be happy to hear this because it should indicate to you that there is actually some hope of having your issues resolved one day.

I just find that amazing since any store I've visited in Vancouver, any friend I've visited in Vancouver I see the same craptacular picture that I get.