As far as HD-PVR reliability, I got in late and bought the 6412. Bypassed the troubles that the 6208 had as well as the price drop that aggrivated people who bought at full price earlier.
I've had maybe 4 or 5 times where I've had to pull the plug on the 6412 to get it to not lock up. Aside from that, everything is good with it. One thing I don't like about the 6412 that I liked with the 6200 is the power on/off. Right now, I have to power on the TV (I leave the box on all the time) and then switch to cable mode on the remote. Turning off means hitting TV and then off. I know there is a master on/off way, but then you get the mute on the box when you turn everything back on.....With my old 6200, it turned my TV on and off, left the box on all the time and there was no switching on the remote control needed. Another benefit of the 6200 was the TV/VCR button would switch the input on your TV to DVD, VCR, whatever. With the 6412, I need to get the remote that came with my big screen TV to change inputs.
When it comes to analogue channels, I'm doing pretty good. 37dB and 35dB on the tuner 1 & 2. Granted those numbers come from digital channels as there is no way to get the numbers on analogue channels. But the clarity is as good as could be. (no splits on the line, good RG6 to the box)
As far as overall picture quality, I don't doubt Starchoice is hands down the winner. Most people here say BEV is light years better than Shaw and that Starchoice is even better. I can't stand Starchoice's guide however. Blah!
HD channels. SC's 9 channels > Shaw's 6 channels....but do you get a lot of repeated programming on Starchoice? I don't know. NBA is on Shaw typically on HD1 channel (Sportsnet). Not a lot of games, but you do get it from time to time. NFL is in HD, although I don't watch much football, so I couldn't tell you if it's on as much as the other cable/sat companies offer. Probably not.
I'll admit the 6412 is a lot of money to plunk down for an HD box. But I find I enjoy the PVR features so much, that the ability to play and record HD on the PVR is just icing on the cake. I can't see much in the way of newer boxes coming out and making it obsolete. I mean we're talking a 2 tuner HD-PVR with 120GB harddrive and a handy clock on the front. Bigger hard drive aside and possibly a TIVO interface, what else is out there that is better?
Since I had friends in Alberta that were coming out to visit me, I found the idea of getting them to buy the box there with the Visions discount was just too tempting. Saved over $100 compared to buying locally. I've never regretted getting the 6412.