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Shaw Cable analogue to digital migration

195881 Views 490 Replies 123 Participants Last post by  Dr.Dave, 
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I received a notice from my apartment building, who bundles basic cable into my rent, and was told that Shaw needs to install digital boxes to remain receiving basic cable. Makes no difference to me since I already have a HD PVR, an HD box (awaiting a new TV to hook it up to as it is a rental) and a SD box. But here in Lloydminster are they phasing out analog cable altogether or did my apartment building make this decision?

If so, does this mean that Lloydminster will finally receive all the channels Shaw offers elsewhere such as Canadian Timeshifting and Superchannel? I would assume this would be a solution to the finite capacity issue as I understand that digital has a higher capacity (possibly infinite like IPTV) and could carry all of these channels without a capacity issue.
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Not primarily. The main reason Shaw's switching to all-digital is so that they can stop broadcasting the 59 analog channels they currently have (Winnipeg count), which will free up tremendous amounts of bandwidth for digital, HD, internet, and any other advanced services they may have in store.

The ease of servicing all-digital customers is a side benefit, which will allow Shaw to connect, disconnect, and process customer service changes directly from the office, without needing to send out a technician.
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That's correct. HD Basic (ch 200 - 215) is available for free to everyone who has a Shaw HD box or Shaw HDPVR, and has at least Basic cable (but not the "Personal TV" plans).
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Also, what about the hospitals that charge you $12/day to receive "Premium TV service" (rebranded Shaw Basic123) through their Hospitality Network? They seem to provide analog cable (Basic T123), would they just be reduced to analog Basic, or will they actually switch to digital?
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Most of Saskatchewan's also not listed in that document (including Saskatoon). I understand that Saskatoon has already converted their tiers to digital. However, Saskatoon only offers internet up to 100 Mbps, and is not yet offering Phase 2 speeds of 250 Mbps. Is there any information on when Phase 2 internet will launch?
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Shaw's offering 1 free [standard-definition] digital box rental for 6 months, to customers affected by the tier migration.

Additional digital boxes can be rented for $2.95/mo each, or purchased for a one-time fee of $78. High Def boxes can be purchased for $178/mo, or for $5/mo for 36 months through Shaw's Easy Own purchase financing.
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I'm not sure what that means. I don't know what area "Winnipeg (Winnipeg Sun)" is; Winnipeg Sun is a newspaper with no affiliation to Shaw, and "Winnipeg (CKY)" is a CTV Winnipeg TV station which is being broadcast from a transmitter tower in a rural location south of the city.

I'm in the West End. Has the West End been converted yet? Although I'm not in any of the following areas, the areas in your post that are closest to me are Carlton st (to the East, downtown), St James (to the west, past Polo Park), and Misericordia (to the south, in Wolseley by the river).
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Nope. Only the Tiers are switching to digital, which includes ch. 14-21 and 23-44. All other channels are unaffected by the upgrade.

According to http://www.shaw.ca/Television/Digital-Network-Upgrade/Analog-Customers :
In order to continue watching channels such as A&E, TLC, Discovery, CNN, The Score and Food Network, you will need a Digital Box for your TV. Your Basic Cable channels (like Global, CTV, CBC, NBC, etc.) will still be available on any TV not connected to a Digital Box.
Click to expand...
They'll probably still carry Analog Basic for a few more years as an unadvertised legacy service.
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They do advertise Digital Basic for $40.95/mo (plus equipment); however, they don't advertise Analog Basic, which is the same price but without equipment.
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Generally a DCT700 (non-HD, non-PVR) box.

If you have Classic Cable, you should receive a letter from Shaw sometime before the digital upgrade occurs(many people received it last summer). This letter would inform you of the digital network upgrade, and the impending loss of analog channels.
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I'm can't say for sure that analog is completely gone, but it's no longer being offered to new customers, and any channel that they can deliver in digital, they will deliver in digital. Notably, anyone with a digital box or HD box would be getting all their channels in a digital format, and all the "Tiers" and HD are digital-only.

If analog still exists, it would be kept around for the benefit of legacy "basic cable" customers without cable boxes. Keep in mind, however, that getting rid of even one analog channel gives Shaw enough bandwidth to launch 2-3+ HD channels, so Shaw has no incentive to keep analog around any longer than necessary.
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^ The 3400 series boxes don't have analog tuners and thus aren't able to receive analog signals at all. You won't be able to receive an analog security feed through your 3400 boxes. Your best bet is to talk to the apartment manager about replacing the security cameras with digital cameras.
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