Shaw Direct HDPVR 630 Owners Discussion thread for owners ONLY! - Page 99 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

TheHans · 2012-03-05, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddayson

So I decided to go the Ask Jim route. Within 15 minutes I was speaking to a senior technical escalation agent who quite promptly diagnosed the issue as low Ecb/No. On both tuners my Ecb fluctuates between 5.0 and 6.5 She said that those numbers should be close to 8 or above. So yet another service call is scheduled for this Wednesday. She figures the issue is in the lines, so I hope she is right and that this finally resolves my issues. I'll keep you posted.

P.S. - Frustrated phoning customer support and waiting on hold? Ask Jim!

Those tech escalation people really know a lot, as I said earlier. But you already had your lines checked, right? Was it by the same person who did your installation? I'd suggest getting a *different* person than the installer and/or the person who came to do the first service call. It's good to get a second set of eyes, because the original installer might not see anything wrong with what he/she did in the first place, if in fact something's amiss. Just read my post on the prior page regarding the ongoing 530 problem. The original installer found *nothing* wrong when he came for the service call even though the dish was hanging by a thread and one of the lines was loosely attached with a barrel connector.

It's a bit tricky to arrange this because, as far as I understand, when they arrange a service call or installation, a particular name pops up on a list. But there are other names, they just have to search for them manually. This would seriously be my advice. Get a new set of eyes on the problem.

gzink · 2012-03-05, 03:56 PM

Well, reception was fine for a while but since the national simsubbing it's been worse, and this weekend on one 630 pixellation was unbelievable, I could watch a perfect picture, start recording the simsubbed or straight Global golf feed and get unwatchable on an American channel, stop the recording and get perfection once more so guess what. I visited the local Shaw cable office(newly bought by Shaw) and am swapping one of the 630's for a DCX3400 or whatever equivalent box and going with personal TV package with time shift, at a similar price with more HD. I'll keep satellite for now and cable and see how it goes.
I'm in the north Okanagan/Shuswap and now with the new LNB and final tweaking the HD numbers are 90 and 6.7+ and the SD numbers are 97 and 8.5+

stecle · 2012-03-05, 06:15 PM

I have had Shawdirect for about 12 years now. I still shake my head in disbelief reading some of these equipment horror stories.

By the way I have no animosity towards the phone staff at Shawdirect. In most cases they are put on the firing line with little to no training. At Shawdirect you will never be asked how many technical problems you solved that day, but rather how many sales-upgrades you achieved that day.

The Shaw family has always had disdain for the Satellite industry and only started Starchoice to hedge their bets. To this day they view Satellite as a threat to their bread and butter cable division.

Any business in 2012 that has 1 hour wait times on the phone is not legitimately concerned about customer service.

ddayson · 2012-03-05, 07:20 PM

As for expert techs as cyberham mentioned, the one I had here last week would definitely be a non expert as far as I am concerned. He spent a good 5 minutes looking at the OSS Atributions screen and saying "well everything looks good there". As far as I know that screen doesn't really tell a person anything. He was more interested in what was on CNN than anything. Then he asked for a piece of fresh baked bread that we had... nice guy but non expert all the way. I'm crossing my fingers it isn't him this time.

ddayson · 2012-03-05, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheHans

Those tech escalation people really know a lot, as I said earlier. But you already had your lines checked, right? Was it by the same person who did your installation? I'd suggest getting a *different* person than the installer and/or the person who came to do the first service call. It's good to get a second set of eyes, because the original installer might not see anything wrong with what he/she did in the first place, if in fact something's amiss. Just read my post on the prior page regarding the ongoing 530 problem. The original installer found *nothing* wrong when he came for the service call even though the dish was hanging by a thread and one of the lines was loosely attached with a barrel connector.

It's a bit tricky to arrange this because, as far as I understand, when they arrange a service call or installation, a particular name pops up on a list. But there are other names, they just have to search for them manually. This would seriously be my advice. Get a new set of eyes on the problem.

I told the lady I was speaking to that the lines had already been checked but we swapped cables around at the back of the receiver. Tuner 2 was very low Ecb. When we swapped cable positions it was tuner 1 that was low, so she thinks it is a line issue. I'm not very tech smart when it comes to this stuff so I am just hoping she is right. Where exactly in the line the problem is coming from, I don't know, but she says the missed recordings, pixelation and slow receiver response (10 seconds to change a channel) can all be from the low Ecb.

The person who installed our system did so 8 years ago when we built our house. He is a local guy who does all the installs here but I don't believe he is affiliated with SD because all of the technicians who come here are from a larger community 2 hours away from here. So the guy who checked the lines recently is not the one who installed the lines originally. As mentioned in my previous post, he isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, in my opinion anyway. I asked the lady if it would be the same guy coming back and she said she didn't have access to that information. So, I'm crossing my fingers.

TheHans · 2012-03-05, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddayson

So the guy who checked the lines recently is not the one who installed the lines originally. As mentioned in my previous post, he isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, in my opinion anyway. I asked the lady if it would be the same guy coming back and she said she didn't have access to that information. So, I'm crossing my fingers.

You can get access to that information. Technical escalation is a different department, but there is a way of requesting someone other than the original person that came. Your situation sounds similar to mine in that I'm in a smaller place where someone comes in from a larger place. Although that's the same person who does both the installs and the service calls. And all calls in this area default to him unless there's a reason to request someone different specifically. In my case, they ended up sending someone basically from a place in the opposite direction the second time and about 10 kms. further away. Mind you, they had some motivation because I kept getting brand new 530s that appeared to be malfunctioning.

Based on what you've said, it's quite likely it's the same person who will be coming.

I wish I could be more helpful in telling you who you can call at Shaw Direct to arrange for a different service person. But I'm really not sure. There is an area where service calls get booked. I still would suggest that you try and be pushy and make sure the same person isn't coming. Just my opinion :-)

Good luck regardless of what you do. I hope your problem is resolved soon.

ScaryBob · 2012-03-06, 10:15 AM

Quote:

and only started Starchoice to hedge their bets

Shaw did not start Star Choice/Shaw Direct. They purchased it. The service went downhill from there. Shaw's main interest interest in satellite was to provide cable head end feeds. (Bell and ground based networks have since taken some of that business.) The consumer division is treated as a second tier service. Their station carriage and consumer receiver quality reflect that. I doubt we will ever see the issues with the 630 fixed. Shaw will simply replace it with Motorola's next bug riddled model and tell customers to upgrade at their own expense.

stecle · 2012-03-06, 04:25 PM

Ok your right, they purchased Starchoice. Any other hairs you want to split? Right from Jim's mouth I heard him say that they wanted Starchoice to hedge their bets due to the uncertainty of where the TV delivery market was heading. He was concerned that Satellite might replace cable as the preferred delivery of TV service. He was further concerned that other DTH providers might beat Shaw to the punch.

He also made it very clear that becoming a DTH provider was not desirable but necessary. At no time have I ever heard anyone at Shaw say their primary interest in Starchoice was related to head ends or up linking. They already had a share in Cancom for that.

ddayson · 2012-03-09, 02:41 AM

Well, I was supposed to have a technician over on Wednesday to fix this issue. No one showed up. Today went by and still no one showed up. Thank you SD for really being on top of this! I emailed technical escalation and will see what they have to say. I'm out of town next week, so now the earliest this can be fixed is March 20th.

rickh1954 · 2012-03-09, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddayson

The tech support guy basically said that by plugging it into the power bar, after enough time, be that 1 month or a year, but eventually the power bar will fill with too much static and cause programs not to record properly..........................

That is the 7th silliest thing I've ever heard.

Whenever I get the ridiculous power bar question I just lie and say it's plugged directly into the wall socket. That saves a lot of wasted time on a non-issue. The real problem has always been something else.

TheHans · 2012-03-10, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddayson

Well, I was supposed to have a technician over on Wednesday to fix this issue. No one showed up. Today went by and still no one showed up. Thank you SD for really being on top of this! I emailed technical escalation and will see what they have to say. I'm out of town next week, so now the earliest this can be fixed is March 20th.

Man! Things aren't going well for you in this regard. What happened? Did they explain what happened with the appointment? Did you book another one?

cyberham · 2012-03-10, 03:48 PM

FWIW, I went through similar insanity with Bell in 2007 in B.C. trying to get their system installed. I persevered and once the system was in, it worked well. Keep chugging at this. I do think the SD HDDVR630 is a nice box to use once you get it working.

ddayson · 2012-03-12, 03:24 AM

TheHans - never really got an explanation as to what happened. I contacted technical escalation and they got right on it. Next appointment is scheduled for March 20th. At the moment I am able to record on one tuner, so have been able to record a few shows. The problem now is that I can't record 2 shows at the same time, as well as pixelation issues.

Cyberham - the 630 isn't a bad machine, when it's working. I had my original receiver for 4 months and never had a problem, other than needing the occasional front panel reset and random reboots. As many others have commented, this unit is riddled with problems, which is unfortunate. Hopefully once I get this issue resolved I won't have any other problems creep up on me.

smsat · 2012-03-12, 08:35 PM

I have several manual timers setup for BNN programs -- they are ALL off by an hour now after the change to Daylight savings time. It is amazing that SD cannot produce a machine capable of such a simple change.

TheHans · 2012-03-12, 09:57 PM

I don't know if you can really blame the 630 for this. When you think of it, it sees a manual timer as something set at a particular hour, the *spot* that represents 8pm (for example), not a particular show. But when that hour shifts by one, it does too. It kind of makes sense. At least you can set recordings properly off the program guide.

If you ever tried to program something on the 530 just prior to a time change, it's even weirder. It will save the timer, but when you look at it under the timer list, it's one hour earlier or later (depending on the time of year). So you see a show at 8pm, you record it off the program guide, but when you look at it the timer's set for 9pm. And it doesn't adjust either once the time change happens. So you either have to set your timers for an hour earlier than you want them or wait until Sunday to set upcoming things.

2012-03-05, 06:15 PM	#1473
stecle Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 117	I have had Shawdirect for about 12 years now. I still shake my head in disbelief reading some of these equipment horror stories. By the way I have no animosity towards the phone staff at Shawdirect. In most cases they are put on the firing line with little to no training. At Shawdirect you will never be asked how many technical problems you solved that day, but rather how many sales-upgrades you achieved that day. The Shaw family has always had disdain for the Satellite industry and only started Starchoice to hedge their bets. To this day they view Satellite as a threat to their bread and butter cable division. Any business in 2012 that has 1 hour wait times on the phone is not legitimately concerned about customer service. Last edited by 57; 2012-03-06 at 10:03 AM. Reason: SD vs BTV comparison deleted as OT

2012-03-06, 04:25 PM	#1478
stecle Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 117	Ok your right, they purchased Starchoice. Any other hairs you want to split? Right from Jim's mouth I heard him say that they wanted Starchoice to hedge their bets due to the uncertainty of where the TV delivery market was heading. He was concerned that Satellite might replace cable as the preferred delivery of TV service. He was further concerned that other DTH providers might beat Shaw to the punch. He also made it very clear that becoming a DTH provider was not desirable but necessary. At no time have I ever heard anyone at Shaw say their primary interest in Starchoice was related to head ends or up linking. They already had a share in Cancom for that. Last edited by 57; 2012-03-06 at 05:53 PM. Reason: Unnecessary Quote Removed

2012-03-12, 08:35 PM	#1484
smsat Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 75	Manual Timers I have several manual timers setup for BNN programs -- they are ALL off by an hour now after the change to Daylight savings time. It is amazing that SD cannot produce a machine capable of such a simple change.

2012-03-12, 09:57 PM	#1485
TheHans Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: The Okanagan, B.C. Posts: 373	I don't know if you can really blame the 630 for this. When you think of it, it sees a manual timer as something set at a particular hour, the spot that represents 8pm (for example), not a particular show. But when that hour shifts by one, it does too. It kind of makes sense. At least you can set recordings properly off the program guide. If you ever tried to program something on the 530 just prior to a time change, it's even weirder. It will save the timer, but when you look at it under the timer list, it's one hour earlier or later (depending on the time of year). So you see a show at 8pm, you record it off the program guide, but when you look at it the timer's set for 9pm. And it doesn't adjust either once the time change happens. So you either have to set your timers for an hour earlier than you want them or wait until Sunday to set upcoming things. Last edited by 57; 2012-03-12 at 11:58 PM. Reason: Unnecessary Quote Removed

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2012-03-05, 03:56 PM	#1472
gzink Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 903	Well, reception was fine for a while but since the national simsubbing it's been worse, and this weekend on one 630 pixellation was unbelievable, I could watch a perfect picture, start recording the simsubbed or straight Global golf feed and get unwatchable on an American channel, stop the recording and get perfection once more so guess what. I visited the local Shaw cable office(newly bought by Shaw) and am swapping one of the 630's for a DCX3400 or whatever equivalent box and going with personal TV package with time shift, at a similar price with more HD. I'll keep satellite for now and cable and see how it goes. I'm in the north Okanagan/Shuswap and now with the new LNB and final tweaking the HD numbers are 90 and 6.7+ and the SD numbers are 97 and 8.5+

2012-03-05, 07:20 PM	#1474
ddayson Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Swan River, Manitoba Posts: 30	As for expert techs as cyberham mentioned, the one I had here last week would definitely be a non expert as far as I am concerned. He spent a good 5 minutes looking at the OSS Atributions screen and saying "well everything looks good there". As far as I know that screen doesn't really tell a person anything. He was more interested in what was on CNN than anything. Then he asked for a piece of fresh baked bread that we had... nice guy but non expert all the way. I'm crossing my fingers it isn't him this time.

2012-03-09, 02:41 AM	#1479
ddayson Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Swan River, Manitoba Posts: 30	Well, I was supposed to have a technician over on Wednesday to fix this issue. No one showed up. Today went by and still no one showed up. Thank you SD for really being on top of this! I emailed technical escalation and will see what they have to say. I'm out of town next week, so now the earliest this can be fixed is March 20th.

2012-03-10, 03:48 PM	#1482
cyberham Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 422	FWIW, I went through similar insanity with Bell in 2007 in B.C. trying to get their system installed. I persevered and once the system was in, it worked well. Keep chugging at this. I do think the SD HDDVR630 is a nice box to use once you get it working.

2012-03-12, 03:24 AM	#1483
ddayson Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Swan River, Manitoba Posts: 30	TheHans - never really got an explanation as to what happened. I contacted technical escalation and they got right on it. Next appointment is scheduled for March 20th. At the moment I am able to record on one tuner, so have been able to record a few shows. The problem now is that I can't record 2 shows at the same time, as well as pixelation issues. Cyberham - the 630 isn't a bad machine, when it's working. I had my original receiver for 4 months and never had a problem, other than needing the occasional front panel reset and random reboots. As many others have commented, this unit is riddled with problems, which is unfortunate. Hopefully once I get this issue resolved I won't have any other problems creep up on me.