Shaw Direct HDPVR 630 Owners Discussion thread for owners ONLY! - Page 51 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

martinstraka828 · 2011-02-02, 10:51 PM

Yet again we have been fooled. I don't believe there is even a firmware update coming anytime soon, we'll just have to live with this thing being a piece of junk just like the 530.

We are not Shaw Direct customers... we are paying beta testers.

D0TC0M · 2011-02-02, 11:19 PM

Well I was going to get another 630 for my upstairs TV but I'll never purchase one till I am satisfied that this one is working properly. Let me tell you that Shaw's customer support will be peppered by calls from me EVERYTIME this 630 either needs a reboot or freezes etc. Even though with all the problems I've had since Christmas I know the procedures, the secret and diagnostics menus to do this without them but I insist on calling so that they document my problems and use resources to fix their problems. If everybody did this they would be bogged down so bad that they would have to hurry and fix it.

I will say though that since resetting it yesterday it hasn't rebooted since so hopefully I will be good to go but something tells me I'll be back here voicing my discontentment.

adit · 2011-02-03, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluestarz

Well I'm back. In the two weeks that I've had the HDPVR 630 I'd had to reset it (pressing and holding off button on the receiver) about 5 times.

Some problems I'm having

When I first turn on the unit I get a black screen. I have to change the channel and change it back to get it to work. Not much of a deal.

I set it to record soap operas for my mom and several times her show did not record. Not only did it not record but the channel it was supposed to record from completely disappeared from the guide and I couldn't tune into it either. Another reset. I had to reset the recordings as well. The upcoming list was empty.

Don't get me wrong. I'm finding the HD channels (just the basic ones for now) really impressive over what I'm used to. (Never had HD before) but I'm starting to wonder whether I made a sound investment receiver + installation is a lot of money for things not to work. As it is, I still have my vcr recording in another room off a standard receiver as a back up. Weird thing is that it recorded on the very channel the HDPVR didn't. I bought this unit at Best Buy. I wonder if I got a bad apple?

It looks like you have a bad unit (maybe one of the tunners locks itself ?). How is your signal level ? I had the occasional problems which require software reboots (like once in 2 weeks), and I lost twicw a recording ( the tunner was locked just recorded black screen), but nothing like you describe. For me the biggest problem is the occasional pixelation ( the 2 tunners problem). It's ok when I watch live, I just switch the channesl and usually the problem dissapears as the second tunner moves, but it can happen during recording, and then I'm forced to watch the recording as is. I hope there is a fix for this soon.

adit · 2011-02-03, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SD 630 Support

Hi TyHe,

I'm sorry to hear about the negative experience. If locational factors (signal, cable runs, interference) have been ruled out, the pixelation is probably caused by the combination of channels the receiver is decoding on each tuner.

As long as nothing is being recorded in the background, change channels once and then go back to what you're trying to watch. This should resolve the issue. (For example, I can reproduce pixelation right now when tuned to CNN in the background, and watching CTV Ottawa. Tuning to 299, and then back to CTV Ottawa stops the pixelation.)

If you are recording something in the background, see if you can find the current program on a different channel and try watching it there. (For example, tuning to CTV Montreal instead of CTV Ottawa also stops the pixelation.)

We're still working on getting this resolved, but in the mean time give the above workaround a try and see if that works for you.

This is the most anoying problem for me.It's OK if I watch live and not recording (do exactly what you described), but does not work if I record something on the other channel as the receiver can not switch the tunner of course, plus I can get the recording itself with pixelation on it. I hope that this can be fixed in firmware and is not a hardware problem.

TyHe · 2011-02-03, 01:36 PM

When cars are faulty the company is required to do a recall and fix them.Too bad there isn't some way to force Shaw to recall the 630 and replace them with something that works. I have a 530 which works great. Am I lucky or were they able to fix all the problems in this receiver.? I wouldn't mind getting a 530 but unfortunately it's not available now. Shaw should offer partial refund to those of us who purchased this faulty product for our inconvience.

Kartan · 2011-02-03, 07:54 PM

That's true TyHe, however when the vehicle's are recalled, it's typically because they have a critical fault that can cause injury or death. I just had to bring my vehicle in for a recall because it had the potential of starting a fire. I do believe that if the 630 was found faulty to the point that it could cause a fire, then iI would fully expect to have them recalled. Have you tried the things that SD support mentioned? Also, even though SD support kinda glossed over it, what are your signal strengths like? Have you called Shaw to do any kind of troubleshooting?

TyHe · 2011-02-04, 09:03 AM

Give me a break! I 've contacted SD tech support more time then I care to remember. Have you read the other posts on this web site ?; this receiver is not one that is ready for the market and is in the development stage. Unfortunately we are the guiny pigs. Do you actually have one of these receivers?. If you do and its working for you without any problems consider yourself one of the fortunate few. It might be nice if SD would offer those of us who are having problems a discount on our monthly bill until they get all the problems solved.

Kartan · 2011-02-04, 10:08 AM

I do own one, and aside from the sporadic reboot, I've had no issues with it. I don't think I'm one of the "fortunate few" though. Yes, there are people having issues, and I don't deny that, but very rarely will people seek out a forum to praise a company on their product. Now, I do see some people saying their receiver is working fine, but more often than not, they are already active members on here, and not brand new ones. It does suck that you're having so many issues, but hopefully there will be a software release soon. If that isn't quick enough, well, there are other option out there.

jbracing24 · 2011-02-04, 11:37 AM

There has to be allowances made for any form of electronics these days.

I have had my desktop PC choke on startup ( I blame it on Weather-Eye) needing a second restart. My Bell modem will kick out from time to time, needing a 3 minute unplug to get it going again.

My 630 was recording Ice Pilots last Wednesday but I was also watching it "live". The picture suddenly froze while the audio kept on going. I waited to commercial break and did a soft reset. We also had a power failure recently, which seemed to erase the autoNEW timers but they reappeared a day later.

Yea, these things are annoying but fixable.

zbroke · 2011-02-04, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kartan

I do own one, and aside from the sporadic reboot, I've had no issues with it. (...)

With all due respect I beg to differ. The "aside from the sporadic reboot" argument. Sorry it should not happen. Not once. You should expect and demand more from your provider. Shaw has been in the business long enough to know what is and what isn't acceptable.

I owned enough PVR from different providers to know what a reliable machine is. The 630 is not. And mine works 99.8% of the times. The .2 just p*sses me off.

robinbp · 2011-02-04, 01:27 PM

received, hooked up and am presently satisfied with my new 630 (it's been about 3 hours...). but, more interestingly, while speaking the the CSR for the hook-up/signal... he informed me that he received a memo this morning stating that the new software upgrade would roll out march 1st 2011 and it was called 4.06. my first comment was that it was bizarre to go from .13 to 4.06 and he agreed but confirmed that it was for the 630 machines so... here's hoping!

meandher57 · 2011-02-04, 01:38 PM

SD Support.... any OFFICIAL news from your end on this update?

zbroke · 2011-02-04, 02:53 PM

robinbp. Welcome to the forum. I hope you were given accurate information but as you mention, the version number schema change is awefully suspicious. Top that with the number of times CSR's have been providing inacurate information I'm not holding my breath. But let us hope...

D0TC0M · 2011-02-04, 03:00 PM

Ok Mine rebooted again this morning for the first time ARRRGGG in 2 days after the soft reset. Its pretty foolish that you have to soft reset this unit every day for it to work properly. I have this PVR hidden from view in the air space of my drop ceiling. I don't want to have to move my tiles every day to reboot the unit. If I could do it with the remote it wouldn't be have bad. I'm calling CS again to log this. Next they will reset it to factory defaults and then will replace it after that doesn't work and the cycle will continue until they realise its costing them a lot in replacement units. I hope shaw direct is listening. If I have to reboot this unit every day then thats a problem that has to be fixed right away!!! If someone at high level tech wants to troubleshoot it I'd be glad to assist in fixing it by providing diagnostic data or whatever in order to pin point the problem. PM me otherwise this is going back to the scrap pile and you send me another one I'm not letting go till I get a good unit.

DjEclipse · 2011-02-04, 05:22 PM

Please delete.... Wrong forum.

2011-02-03, 01:36 PM	#755
TyHe Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 37	630 replacement? When cars are faulty the company is required to do a recall and fix them.Too bad there isn't some way to force Shaw to recall the 630 and replace them with something that works. I have a 530 which works great. Am I lucky or were they able to fix all the problems in this receiver.? I wouldn't mind getting a 530 but unfortunately it's not available now. Shaw should offer partial refund to those of us who purchased this faulty product for our inconvience.

2011-02-04, 09:03 AM	#757
TyHe Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 37	Karstan Give me a break! I 've contacted SD tech support more time then I care to remember. Have you read the other posts on this web site ?; this receiver is not one that is ready for the market and is in the development stage. Unfortunately we are the guiny pigs. Do you actually have one of these receivers?. If you do and its working for you without any problems consider yourself one of the fortunate few. It might be nice if SD would offer those of us who are having problems a discount on our monthly bill until they get all the problems solved.

2011-02-04, 01:27 PM	#761
robinbp Rookie Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 1	so far so good received, hooked up and am presently satisfied with my new 630 (it's been about 3 hours...). but, more interestingly, while speaking the the CSR for the hook-up/signal... he informed me that he received a memo this morning stating that the new software upgrade would roll out march 1st 2011 and it was called 4.06. my first comment was that it was bizarre to go from .13 to 4.06 and he agreed but confirmed that it was for the 630 machines so... here's hoping!

2011-02-04, 02:53 PM	#763
zbroke Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Fort Worth,TX & Montreal,PQ Posts: 185	robinbp. Welcome to the forum. I hope you were given accurate information but as you mention, the version number schema change is awefully suspicious. Top that with the number of times CSR's have been providing inacurate information I'm not holding my breath. But let us hope... __________________ Go HABS Go! Go MAVS Go! JVC RS-40 on a 128" screen. WOW!

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2011-02-02, 10:51 PM	#751
martinstraka828 Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 42	Yet again we have been fooled. I don't believe there is even a firmware update coming anytime soon, we'll just have to live with this thing being a piece of junk just like the 530. We are not Shaw Direct customers... we are paying beta testers.

2011-02-02, 11:19 PM	#752
D0TC0M Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 45	Well I was going to get another 630 for my upstairs TV but I'll never purchase one till I am satisfied that this one is working properly. Let me tell you that Shaw's customer support will be peppered by calls from me EVERYTIME this 630 either needs a reboot or freezes etc. Even though with all the problems I've had since Christmas I know the procedures, the secret and diagnostics menus to do this without them but I insist on calling so that they document my problems and use resources to fix their problems. If everybody did this they would be bogged down so bad that they would have to hurry and fix it. I will say though that since resetting it yesterday it hasn't rebooted since so hopefully I will be good to go but something tells me I'll be back here voicing my discontentment.

2011-02-03, 07:54 PM	#756
Kartan Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 75	That's true TyHe, however when the vehicle's are recalled, it's typically because they have a critical fault that can cause injury or death. I just had to bring my vehicle in for a recall because it had the potential of starting a fire. I do believe that if the 630 was found faulty to the point that it could cause a fire, then iI would fully expect to have them recalled. Have you tried the things that SD support mentioned? Also, even though SD support kinda glossed over it, what are your signal strengths like? Have you called Shaw to do any kind of troubleshooting?

2011-02-04, 10:08 AM	#758
Kartan Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 75	I do own one, and aside from the sporadic reboot, I've had no issues with it. I don't think I'm one of the "fortunate few" though. Yes, there are people having issues, and I don't deny that, but very rarely will people seek out a forum to praise a company on their product. Now, I do see some people saying their receiver is working fine, but more often than not, they are already active members on here, and not brand new ones. It does suck that you're having so many issues, but hopefully there will be a software release soon. If that isn't quick enough, well, there are other option out there.

2011-02-04, 11:37 AM	#759
jbracing24 Veteran Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Thorold Ontario Posts: 2,265	There has to be allowances made for any form of electronics these days. I have had my desktop PC choke on startup ( I blame it on Weather-Eye) needing a second restart. My Bell modem will kick out from time to time, needing a 3 minute unplug to get it going again. My 630 was recording Ice Pilots last Wednesday but I was also watching it "live". The picture suddenly froze while the audio kept on going. I waited to commercial break and did a soft reset. We also had a power failure recently, which seemed to erase the autoNEW timers but they reappeared a day later. Yea, these things are annoying but fixable.

2011-02-04, 01:38 PM	#762
meandher57 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Kingston, Ontario Posts: 118	SD Support.... any OFFICIAL news from your end on this update?

2011-02-04, 03:00 PM	#764
D0TC0M Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 45	Ok Mine rebooted again this morning for the first time ARRRGGG in 2 days after the soft reset. Its pretty foolish that you have to soft reset this unit every day for it to work properly. I have this PVR hidden from view in the air space of my drop ceiling. I don't want to have to move my tiles every day to reboot the unit. If I could do it with the remote it wouldn't be have bad. I'm calling CS again to log this. Next they will reset it to factory defaults and then will replace it after that doesn't work and the cycle will continue until they realise its costing them a lot in replacement units. I hope shaw direct is listening. If I have to reboot this unit every day then thats a problem that has to be fixed right away!!! If someone at high level tech wants to troubleshoot it I'd be glad to assist in fixing it by providing diagnostic data or whatever in order to pin point the problem. PM me otherwise this is going back to the scrap pile and you send me another one I'm not letting go till I get a good unit.

2011-02-04, 05:22 PM	#765
DjEclipse Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Niagara Falls Posts: 71	Please delete.... Wrong forum.