Shaw Direct had a lousy HDTV service and lousy HD equipment in 2003 as well. The situation hasn't changed much since then. I cancelled them in 2003 due to their horrendous technical problems with HD, lack of channels and poor value for the money. I just cancelled again for basically the same reasons. I'm getting more SDTV channels and a lot more HDTV channels with Rogers for about $10 more per month.
For what it's worth, I was told that Shaw Direct is planning on revamping its lineups in April. A lot of that, of course, depends on successful deployment of the new satellite. We'll see how that goes. Shaw has a long record of being slow to deploy new channels, especially HD and specialty services based in eastern Canada, like TMN.