Official Shaw Direct Vs. Bell Satellite Thread

[ARR]

First, those stations need Canadian regulatory approval, and then transponder space to carry them.

For the latter, it's highly unlikely you'll see them on Bev anytime soon as they are beyond tapped out while *C has recently liberated an abundance of capacity.

Does that make your decision easier?

[rudyjuly2]

Thanks. Sorry for the late response. The biggest thing I want to know is how does the HD PQ look on Star Choice? If its as good as Bell I will probably make the switch. I've recently found a good deal on a local *C 530 HD PVR but I'm still wondering if I should wait and try to get a deal like *C had last December on them ($399 after credits). I'd rather get new with the free installation. We don't even have any of our old Star Choice dishes anymore (but still have two older receivers).

[ARR]

The general consensus is that *C's HD has a fair lead over Bell's HD for numerous reasons.
Bell's HD is occasionally downrezed from source 1080i to 720p to save bandwidth.
Their HD capacity is at or near capacity and several have noted they are placing 3 HD stations per transponder where best practice using QPSK modulation only allows for 2 to maintain quality.

And finally the HD signals that *C uses are part of a national backhaul systems serving almost every cable company and are required to be of the highest quality.

[rudyjuly2]

Thanks again. I really hope *C puts out another December deal like last year. I could get a used PVR 530 for $400 in my local market right now and am tempted to buy it. Our Bell HD contract runs until early December though and I'd prefer to get a new PVR with the warranty if possible. I would be all over the $399 after credit deal if they offered it again. Spoke to a *C rep last night and they don't know what sales are coming.

[mcewena]

I emailed S* and asked if they'd match BEVs current PVR offer ($499 + programming credit) and they said they wouldn't because <insert marketing speak answer>.

[shingdaz]

Newb.

Just wondering what sort of Rain-out problems people experience with Bell Ex?

I'm looking into subscribing to Bell HD services, and was looking at their newest HD PVR receiver. Has any-one found o ut any specs on it?

I'm currently with Rogers, but I've found o ut t hat Bell's combo packages come out cheaper than my rogers Packages (internet/HD etc), it will be more afforrdable for me to get HD content without dishing out an extra $30 a month as with Rogers.

I understand Bell has had some customer services issues, is there some sort of on call tech that can come to your house to check for any technical issues?

Just looking around for now.

[Acadian]

How is the viewing quality of BEV and/or *C compared to Rogers? Talking HD of course.

I ask cause i only saw one BEV HD dish in a house and it wasn't much....just wondering if his setup was bad.

Cheers

[987654321]

The quality of many Expressvu HD channels has gone down in the last 6 months as they add new HD channels loaded on existing transponders. Now many (including the latest 6 French channels added) are running 3/transponder for an average bit rate less than 9MB. DirecTV engineers have concluded that picture degradation occurs when the signal rate is below 12 in MPEG2.

To try to work around this, Expressvu downrezzes many 1080i signals to 720p which requires lower bit rates.

I was at a retailer a couple of weeks ago who had Habs game on RDSHD on 2 identical 42" Toshiba HDTVs side by side. 1 was feed with Expressvu 9200, other with SC 530. Expressvu would sell 0 setups in this comparison even though the 9200 is capable of a better picture than the Motorola DVR930. The Expressvu PQ was that bad on that channel. So we changed to Discovery HD and while the PQ difference wasn't nearly as noticable, Discovery HD was still better PQ on the 530.

[ARR]

Both Bev's 92XX family and *C 5XX family of STB's use fairly state of the art processors, so the comparison is fundamentally the quality of the source signal transmitted.
And that answer is already well known.

Primarily what separates the 2 providers is Bev is primarily a consumer grade residential satellite system, and while *c is as well, it infrastructure is premium grade commercial and it's focus is to support Canada's cableTV systems with high quality signals, for which *c merely tails in on.

[Acadian]

Based on my limited research, i have the impression *C has a better image quality...but i'm wondering how they compare to cable (Rogers).

[ARR]

I have NO first hand comparison, but if it's stated that Rogers does NO Compression, then in theory at least, they should have the best picture possible, assuming they get uncompressed signals from the provider over fibre or similar. If they are just passing through the HD signals they get from Shaw Broadcast Services (formerly Cancom) then they wil be the same quality as the *c signals, assuming they do no additional processing.

[ChzPlz]

I'm a EV subscriber looking to switch to *C.

Am I reading their channel lineup wrong, or does *C not have Global or CityTV in HD?

Thx.

[lars]

That is correct, they don't have them.
I've completely given up on network tv shows. I only watch the networks for hd sports. I would switch to Star Choice from Bev if they had more extra cost hd sports packages, like MLB Extra Innings and NFL Sunday Ticket.

I'm one of the very few people on this forum that would miss Oasis and Equator if I switched, but I would gain National Geographic.

[TJ77]

Global HD has few fans and no original content. CityHD, however, would be a nice addition.

[Jamis1979]

Which EV HD channels are compressed to 720p and which are not?