Considering switching from Bell TV back to Shaw. What DON'T you like about Shaw?

[HotHotHeat]

Can any Shaw costumers give me a few things they'd like to see changed about Shaw (specifically HD)? I've done a channel comparison, and Shaw really seems to have picked up the slack. Bell will always have more, but honestly, who watches 70% of the channels they have...

Thanks in advance. Also feel free to give me any other reasons I should steer clear of Shaw...

[yads]

Sound dropouts, mediocre picture quality are some of the reasons.

[OilKiller]

Compared to Bell, there isn't too much to not like about Shaw. Sound dropouts are nowhere near the same issue as they used to be. Not for me anyway. I find the HD channels to be excellent quality. Guess maybe it depends on where you are.

My biggest complaint I would say right now is the fact that Shaw is starting to carry more and more Canadian HD feeds, so we are starting to see more simsubs on the Western HD channels from Global/City/Etc. You can still avoid simsubs by watching the Eastern feeds of the HD channels though.

<sits and waits for Hoot to come post about how great Bell is>

[babs]

No PVR Anywhere type feature, as well as everything yads mentioned.

[Art Vandelay]

I've had Shaw for about 6 mos. Haven't had any issues with sound dropouts. The rental PVR that I have is garbage though. Its a Pace model and when watching a recorded program, there are major issues while fast forwarding and rewinding. It skips around and is a total pain in the ass. I hear there is a new Motorola rental unit that does not have these problems.

I find the guide on the Bell system much better also. The Bell system lets you show only the channels you are subscribed to. There is no way to do this easily on Shaw.

[alltherage]

I dont have the PVR, and my Shaw HD had been great. I have had minimal issues for the last 6 months. The only thing that annoyed me was waiting from 9am to 1pm for them to come install it... thats a pain in the ass but I think all companies are like that.

[ken0042]

The big thing that keeps me from switching back to Shaw from Bell is the lack of a UHF remote. What that means is that with Shaw you will need a box for each and every TV as opposed to using Bell's 2nd tuner.

Also my last side-by-side comparison (which was 2 years ago) seemed to indicate that Shaw will increase the bandwidth for popular HD like Sunday Football (making them better than Bell), but have less bandwidth for things like Discovery HD (making them poorer.)

But Shaw does have History HD which Bell is missing.

If you do call in tell them you got a flyer to trade in your Bell receiver for a Shaw HD-PVR. It may take some CSR-roulette to get the deal, but it's worth a try.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by ken0042

If you do call in tell them you got a flyer to trade in your Bell receiver for a Shaw HD-PVR. It may take some CSR-roulette to get the deal, but it's worth a try.

CSR roulette can be amazing. We just called Shaw last month telling them we were considering going to Telus because of a better deal...

We ended up with:

Free 500GB HDPVR for a year, All cable tiers, all digital tiers, all HD tiers, Shaw home phone, Shaw Xtreme Internet, all for $85/month for a year.

[Russic]

The price is a little higher than Bell, but I prefer the customer service. I thought the HD was pretty good, perhaps slightly worse than Bell, but not much imo. Overall I had very little negative experiences with Shaw aside from the prices getting a little high.

I did miss the 6 games on 1 channel thing that Bell has for NHL Centre Ice though, that thing is awesome. Also, I believe Bell broadcast the olympics to the iPhone which was pretty awesome (also something I couldn't enjoy).

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

CSR roulette can be amazing. We just called Shaw last month telling them we were considering going to Telus because of a better deal...

We ended up with:

Free 500GB HDPVR for a year, All cable tiers, all digital tiers, all HD tiers, Shaw home phone, Shaw Xtreme Internet, all for $85/month for a year.

Thats amazing, I'm gonna have to try that.

I just downgraded from HD Plus to HD Basic because it just feels like a ripoff. The biggest drawback of Shaw is that, for me anyways, I have to pay for loads of stuff I don't need, in order to get the channels I need. Telus is a little more flexible with their packaging, but they don't offer centre ice, so I can't move over to them.

Another small annoyance is that the menu on Shaw doesn't have an option to list only the channels I'm subscribed to. Kind of a pain to be scrolling through and find something interesting only to have the "must subscribe" message come up.

[OilKiller]

Originally Posted by ken0042

The big thing that keeps me from switching back to Shaw from Bell is the lack of a UHF remote. What that means is that with Shaw you will need a box for each and every TV as opposed to using Bell's 2nd tuner.

Yeah, it took some getting used to, no UHF remote. I had Star Choice before going to Shaw and I loved the UHF remote. I do miss that.

And Art ^^, try using the skip ahead and back buttons instead of fast forward and rewind. I even programmed on the the buttons to skip ahead 60 seconds and it works much better than using FF/REW.

The PVR's are not perfect, but I have few issues.

[Rathji]

The biggest problem I have with Shaw is the occasional sound dropout, but they are much better now than they were even 3 months ago. So much that I can't even remember the last time it happened.

Also, I would be happier if the box was a little bit faster changing channels and stuff, because you do notice a slight extra delay compared to my Mom's Bell box. It isn't to the point where it really bugs me.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Rathji

The biggest problem I have with Shaw is the occasional sound dropout, but they are much better now than they were even 3 months ago. So much that I can't even remember the last time it happened.

Also, I would be happier if the box was a little bit faster changing channels and stuff, because you do notice a slight extra delay compared to my Mom's Bell box. It isn't to the point where it really bugs me.

What is sound dropout? I've never experienced this before? I was on standard def digital for a few years, just been on HD for the past month. I haven't experienced any issues with sound.

The new Shaw Motorola 500GB HDPVR seems very fast and well designed to me.

[Prototype]

For me, it was the hardware, and the amount of HD channels available. When we were with Shaw, we had to call in to get our box reset from their side, because the guide would freeze at least once a month.

I mainly only watch HD (aside from Fantasy Factory and Nitro Circus on MTV), so having more selection with Bell makes sense. Seems like Bell has more family programming available as well. Half of my HD is Thomas the Train, Backyardigans, etc for my son.

I haven't had to call Bell since install, other than to add or subtract channels here and there. While I had to call Shaw on a monthly basis, seemed like it was more tollerable, but I hated that I had to do it on a more consistant basis.

My wife has pointed out that on the Shaw guide, if you saw a show that had started already, and you wanted to catch it on a different channel, you just had to click the clock icon, and it would show what channel and time it was on next. With Bell, we've only been able to do this by going through the search function. Pain in the butt there.

There's pro's and con's to every company. I'm not rulling out going back to Shaw... but they're not my first choice right now.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by OilKiller

Compared to Bell, there isn't too much to not like about Shaw.
<sits and waits for Hoot to come post about how great Bell is>

Bahahaha I wish I kept track of the amount of times you have threated to switch to Bell from Shaw. I guess all those missed Flames games for Shaw customers has gone to the back of your mind lately.

Shaw has great customer service, that's about it. Their PVR remote is a joke so make sure you pick up a universal remote before getting the equipment.

Oh ya, Bell is great!

[OilKiller]

Originally Posted by HOOT

Bahahaha I wish I kept track of the amount of times you have threated to switch to Bell from Shaw. I guess all those missed Flames games for Shaw customers has gone to the back of your mind lately.

Oh ya, Bell is great!

Bwaahahahahah...I haven't threatened to leave Shaw in forever.

Oh and Bell sucks.



Get Shaw HotHotHeat...you'll love it.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

What is sound dropout? I've never experienced this before? I was on standard def digital for a few years, just been on HD for the past month. I haven't experienced any issues with sound.

The new Shaw Motorola 500GB HDPVR seems very fast and well designed to me.

Even on standard def, occasionally there would be a second where the sound disappeared. It's very disconcerting. I remember watching a flames game last season and getting 3-5 drops a period. I watched the Stamps/Riders game on the weekend and didn't get a single drop. It's definitely improved or gone altogether.

You can have all the channels you can view set to favorites and it jumps only through those channels when you hit the favorite button. Easy.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

You can have all the channels you can view set to favorites and it jumps only through those channels when you hit the favorite button. Easy.

Right, but what happens when you hit "Guide?"

Most of the time when I am looking for something to watch, I'm not flicking channels like it's 1995; as there are now over 100 channels that I might watch.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by fotze

I hate the guide in shaw, when you are less than five minutes to the next half hour, you click select to go to the channel and it shows the information instead of going to the channel. So now you have to exit the info, go back in time, then select the channel. QUIT SKIPPING THE GUIDE AHEAD!. I CAN SEE THE NEXT HALF HOUR SO YOU DON"T NEED TO HELP ME OUT.

God thats annoying. I have a crappy remote extender so every unecessary button click is annoying

Why does the Shaw guide have to show channels you don't subscribe too? I can't remember which channels.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Right, but what happens when you hit "Guide?"

Most of the time when I am looking for something to watch, I'm not flicking channels like it's 1995; as there are now over 100 channels that I might watch.

When you hit Guide, I'm pretty sure it jumps from favorite to favorite on the list. I don't see the problem with that. (I don't channel surf either, anymore)