That could be a good point, maybe it's more location/region?

It's been a while since I rented a movie, however last night we watched a HD rental through our Apple TV unit and I immediately realized just how poor the Shaw Gateway HD actually is. I think over time (being only a few weeks now with the Gateway installed) I have adjusted to the picture quality and became accepting of it, however after watched a streamed HD movie through the Apple TV, there is quite a difference.

I fear putting in a Blueray into my 1080P blueray player that I might start disliking the Gateway all together. Has anyone else found this to be the case?

Attn: Mr. 'Shaw', please focus some efforts on improving the HD broadcast quality!

Yeah I've noticed a difference in quality as well. I've rented HD movies on my Playstation and the quality, as well as the price ($5.99 vs $6.99) is better.

Has anyone from shaw spoke to anyone experiencing these problems in picture quality?

I haven't concerned shaw with it yet as...quite frankly I am really at a loss of words as to where to start or how to describe it.

I have contacted Shaw about the pixelation several times. I never get a solution to the problem. I get different suggestions from different techs. I've been told to switch HDMI cables, switch ends of HDMI cables, it's a problem with my TV's since they are Samsung, reset the box, switch from 720p to 1080i... just to name a few.

The installers have been here twice, checked and adjusted signal levels. I had them watch some of the crappy pixelated HD on TSN, etc. They didn't say too much... didn't really want to admit there was a problem since they had no solution.

When I mentioned I never had these problems on Sasktel the reply was "I guess they are just ahead of us with the technology"

No one can tell me why I get 3-7 Mbits with my Broadband 50 90% either...

After my 3 month obligation for receiving the $300 Shaw gift cards as a new subscriber, I will be selling my hardware and going to back to Sasktel unless there are drastic service improvements in that time

Today I received amazing news regarding my questions to shaw in terms of pixlation/blurs

Thanks to a VERY...VERY intelligent and great tech guy who came out to install my shaw portal (2nd portal to the system)

It turns out since I have a larger house and I have a booster/amplifier on my system that apparently THAT amplifier is the cause of my problems!! It effects the shaw gateway system as it's more advanced and I think the shaw gateway has it's own amplifier built in to send the signal to all the various portals.

I am very happy to say that as soon as I fully convert to all shaw gateway and have no need for the amplifier anymore that I should have my picture to where it SHOULD be.

I will report back (probably a month or so considering the prices of portals as well as the gateway it self have gone up significantly today) in when I fully convert to the shaw gateway system and let you know of my hopeful success story.

This is the first I've heard of this related issue and shaw support NEVER told me anything relating to that on the phone as when you have an amplifier at a house it actually doesn't show on your file.

Hope this new information I received can help shed some light on other people having the similiar problem. Please let me know!

Did that tech try temporarily removing the amplifier and having just your gateway and portals active to see the difference? If it is something simple like that, great, but I always like to see it confirmed.

We, like many customers I believe, have a Shaw amplifier since the signal getting to the house is too low (long run from distribution point, older coax coming to our house than current standards, etc. are the reasons provided) rather than the size of the house. If this turn out to be correct, Shaw has a lot of upgrading to do to resolve the issue or they need different amplifiers that play nice with Gateway systems.

No he didn't but he explained that he's seen that situation before, quite often and he sees that as a very consistant fix as well as isolating lines for the gateway portals or something along those lines in terms of isolating the signal

I will surely come and confirm once I go ahead and purchase a few more portals. (Would have been done very quickly had it not been for the huge price hike today)

From the Unofficial MoCA Blog FAQ:

Does a CATV amplifier affect the performance of the MoCA bridge?

Yes. A CATV amplifier can block or interfere with the MoCA signal and cause the MoCA bridge to malfunction. Avoid placing an amplifier in the path of the MoCA nodes unless it properly bypasses the MoCA frequencies (850 to 1525 MHz) or use a moCA-compatible amp.

Basically, if you have a non-MoCA-compatible amp in a location where a MoCA signal would have to cross it, that would definitely explain some problems. I would hope that Shaw could provide you with a MoCA-compatible amp, but not sure.

I would think that Shaw would know which amplifiers that they use are MoCA compatible and swap them during installs if necessary but perhaps they haven't got a compatible option at this point. I wonder if there is a direct correlation between people with amplifiers having problems and those without an amplifier having less problems. Anyone know how to do polls? Perhaps with the following options:

1. Amplifier in use and no significant Gateway issues
2. Amplifier in use and having video problems, pixelations, freezing, etc.
3. No amplifier in use and no significant Gateway issues
4. No amplifier in use and having video problems, pixelations, freezing, etc.

I am following this thread with great interest! I think this discussion will eventually lead to a solution for the pixelation issues some but not all Gateway users are experiencing.

Unfortunately, the amplifier issue is not the cause of pixelation for me because I do not have an amplifier. In fact, when I first had the installers back at my house to troubleshoot the pixelation, I mentioned installing an amplifier and the installer measured my signal level and said an amp would bump the signal too high for the Gateway.

I'm in a house that was wired in 2009 so I should have the latest coax.

It really seems like a codec/compression artifact issue to me, but I would expect that to affect all users not just some.

BTW.. great idea about the poll!

Something interesting to report:

Just got off chat with Shaw concierge support. Inquired about lack of Broadband 50 and HD pixelation issues in Swift Current. She explained the issues are inter-related. Swift Current is still satellite fed rather than fibre fed. Until that infrastructure upgrade occurs, it is impossible to achieve net speeds greater than extreme (25 mbits) or higher quality, less compressed HD.

This explanation is in line with what my installers have explained to me. They said the infrastructure within the city has been upgraded to support BB50 and Gateway/Portal but they are awaiting a 'key' upgrade to enable BB50. I'm thinking the 'key' upgrade is the switch from satellite to fibre feed.

I know another Swift Current subscriber on these forums has the same pixelation issues as me.

Another poll idea might be to see if those that have pixelation issues are in a location that is still satellite fed?

Just watched Tree of Life on Movie Central HD and the audio was terrible. Sounds like a giant bowl of Rice Krispies. Tron Legacy and many other movies have the same issue. I've tried both HDMI and optical outputs, but it seems the problem is in the signal. I'm in the Vancouver area, so it's channel 244 on Shaw. I contacted them a year ago, but obviously nothing has changed. Anyone else experiencing this?

I'm out in White Rock and I will find out tonight if it's my signal or my 3400 box.
Heavy pixelization yesterday morning. I had a small amount over the last month but
thought it was satellite troubles on feeds to Shaw. Two Chats with Tech Reps at Shaw and
now a service call tonight. Rep says it's either my brand new 3400 (2 months old) or
something in the line feeding the house.

FaxCap

The audio was fine for me on Tree of Life, which was too bad as it was the worst movie I've ever seen by far.

No trouble with 244 in North Vancouver.

Are you using the DCX-3400 up there in North Van? If you are and everything is fine, I'll need to hear from a South Burnaby resident to see if it's a regional problem.

DCT 6416