Yesterday I phoned a tech at SD to get the time changed back as we have NO daylight savings time in our area. I complained having to do this every 6 months and couldn't they set something up? He said the 800 series receivers are in the works and they will be able to set our time zone and if we have DST or not. I asked him "You said 800 series and not 700 series", he said they are bypassing the 700 and are working on the 800 series.
If I needed more info he could patch me through to customer relations or something like that but it was Sunday, I could phone back today(monday).
Does that mean we have to wait longer for a newer receiver, or just a stall tactic.

I was also told a little while ago that they are working on new receivers. However, I wasn't told the model or anything else. If they do have new ones coming out soon, the ability to set the time-zone will be a boon. Where we are, Shaw Direct default the postal code to Newfoundland time, but we are on Atlantic. It took me ages to get them to fix it, and for it to stay fixed. Also, if they can somehow make one work with just one line, but dual tuners, that would be awesome too. I suspect that's a more intricate issue however. Hopefully soon we'll know more.

The DST issue is probably just an error in Shaw's database. They must be able to set time zone by customer and receiver or it would not work anywhere. Why would a new receiver make any difference?

I get a chuckle when I see a thread about new BDU receivers. It happens every time a CSR says something about it but most of the time it's false. There are threads full of speculation about receivers that never arrived going on for a year or more.

yeah, I'll believe when I see it

Precisely. Most things from SD front-line and / or support can be taken with a large dose of salt. Having said that, it is a number of years since the 6XX series was introduced and, whilst adequate for many people, there are plenty of other platforms with more features. In rural areas like mine there's very little choice, which makes any new receiver options a nice bonus.

They would need to offer a PVR with at least 4 tuners plus whole home capability to compete with IPTV and cable offerings. It might happen but I don't see it happening soon.

At this point Shaw cannot change platforms, due to installed base of existing receivers that would otherwise need changed out.

All they practically can do is make a new receiver platform compatible with the existing transmissions and dish hardware.

Correct. Current receivers and the encryption they use are proprietary to Motorola. Shaw is dependent on Motorola for new receivers. In addition, Shaw is the only North American satellite provider using Motorola equipment so new equipment development is relatively expensive per unit.

One thing Shaw has over Bell is that they work closely with the manufacturer of their products. It has been suggested that Shaw has a switch that uses single wire distribution,(photos on this forum) if that technology is used in a receiver, it means the receiver can have multiple tuners, and with Motorola/Arris gateway already used in Shaw Cable, I hope that a true whole home unit is the next receiver to be released.

I wouldn't say that Shaw has any advantage over Bell for equipment. Bell has a close working agreement with Dish and Echostar (which supplies their equipment.) Dish's equipment is way ahead of anything I've seen from either Bell or Shaw. If anything, Bell has a huge advantage due to it's ability to leverage Dish's advanced technology and equipment that is developed for its large US customer base. That neither Shaw or Bell market anything more advanced than basic 10 year old PVR technology attests to the sad state of the satellite BDU market in Canada. If Shaw showed any sign of marketing anything better than their 630 PVR, you can be sure that Bell would do it as well.

We have a place down south so we also have Directv down there. There are many differences in receivers we tested our SD 630pvr against a Genie lite.
1. 2 tuners compared to 5 tuners
2. 1080 on almost every channel, SD only a handful and mostly 720
3. used PIP to compare CNN HD between the two and very big difference
4. genie series is 4k compatibly with new LNB coming out
5. talk of 8k in near future
6. receivers are tiny and have wireless capabilities from room to room.
7. programing has no duplicate channels, no SD if HD is available.

All sounds good but why I prefer Shaw Direct.
! DTV has no time shifting
2. only networks are locals allowed in footprint.
3. they charge for ever receiver, HD package, warranty, PVR usage, etc.
4. their quality is better but you are nickle and dime to extreme
5. have to sign a contract 2y min.
6. SD has excellent customer service!

So if Shaws new 800 series receiver can have the new technology that is out there , be smart about bandwidth usage, and keep customer service, they could be a leader in Canada.

To counter some of your points.
Pt A:
1. I think DirecTV did a mass shut down of many legacy SD and HD channels, where HD was available. Or at least by default map HD channels to their SD numbers. Shaw Direct kind of does that, by asking if you would sooner watch the HD channel, when there is one available. In any case, it would be a software fix that can probably be applied to current receivers.

Pt B:
DirecTV vs time shifting networks is more the regulations they have vs the regulations Canadian providers have, rather than a difference in the hardware.

Lack of time shifting in the US is due to FCC regulations that protect local OTA stations from out of market competition. That's a major reason why OTA is healthier in the US than it is in Canada. In general, that's a good thing. It's not really an issue provided you have enough tuners and the PVR is reliable.

When I bought my first HDTV in the fall of 2003, I held off on upgrading my Starchoice receiver to HD, because the Starchoice HD-DVR was "right around the corner" according to the CSRs and why spend $500+ only to have to upgrade in a couple of months. It was finally released in May of 2005 and was an unmitigated disaster. I went through 6 of them before one worked.

Probably a re-purposed image from Shaw Cable, but I noted on their homepage promo for TMN / HBO / Game of Thrones, they show a Gateway HDPVR as the receiver (http://media.shawdirect.ca/uploadedi...2v2.png?n=8934)