Shaw Gateway whole-home PVR

[gregzz4]

My wife is out of town, and the final season of Dexter starts tomorrow night, so I'm going to record it for her
I thought about buying a DVD Recorder, but before doing so I checked into the Shaw system

OMG

For 6 TVs (we have 7) it will cost nearly $1100.00, and we can't use our old Digital Boxes. So we have no option of using an old box on other TVs and just a few of these new modules

This new system advertises a bunch about HDTV, but you can still use it with Digital Cable and TVs. I don't plan on buying an HDTV until our current bigscreen craps out, so this is good
But the price is too out there for now, even if we go with the $30/mth for 36 months deal

So, I bought a Toshiba DVD Recorder for $129.99

Thanks for nothing Shaw
I've been with them for 30 something years, but that means squat

"You can also sell your old boxes once you install the new system"
Ya, whatever. Who's going to want them ?

[scherzo]

Wow. I didn't know that you couldn't run this new box with old boxes on the other TVs.

I though that you could get the ONE HD PVR box and still keep the old ones even though they won't be able to play back the recordings.

I have an older PVR from Shaw and I love it. We have 2 other TVs with the older digital boxes on them and don't have a problem with the newish box in the house mixed with the older boxes.

Did you look into just getting the regular HD PVR box? That is what my in-laws have and they have a mix of the old boxes in the house with the new HD PVR.

[madchild]

The whole home system is pretty cool but far too expensive. I'm more annoyed that I purchased 3 hd-pvr's in the last few years (2 of the older silver Motorola, and 1 500gb black Motorola) and only the black one plays all the channels. The older ones have some hardware issue where they can't play some of the newer channels like FX(hd)

I called in too see if they would exchange, but the basically told me to go pound sand.

As much as I hate Shaw, they are still better than satellite and telus...

[gregzz4]

I thought about the older PVR but I'm going to wait until our 52" RCA craps out
Then we'll get a bigscreen HDTV and this new system

I'm just shocked what they charge for the equipment considering how much they rape us for each month, and just for Digital service

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by madchild

As much as I hate Shaw, they are still better than satellite and telus...

I hear ya

I'm a bit peeved with them right now as, due to all this new service, they cut all the cable FM radio stations out
Now I have to listen to KISW in my office on my PC

[MarkoD]

let me know if you want telus whole home PVR. dont have to buy boxes. first 3 are free and the next are 5 dollars each per month

i can assure you telus is now better than shaw. whatever you heard or saw few years ago means nothing now.

the new boxes are crazy fast, they're all HD, they all access the PVR

[scherzo]

The other tactic is to phone Shaw and tell them that Telus is offering you their whole home system.

I have to agree that the Shaw system (especially internet) is a better deal and a better system. Telus is now doing something that allows them to deliver more content and data but I think there is still more capability in the Shaw system.

The FM station thing is annoying. I think what everything is changing to is everything is switching to DATA. They can already see the writing on the wall that everyone is going to on demand and they have to compete. Notice how your "cable" portion of your bill is getting cheaper but your data or internet part of your bill is slowly creeping up.

They are afraid of Apple TV and XBOX where you can get your content any time, any way you can. That is probably why Shaw bought Global TV. It gives them the opportunity to maybe be an exclusive provider of Global TV content in the future.

The advantage of the whole home PVR is that you can get it anywhere you want it as opposed to an XBOX or AppleTV where you're kind of stuck on the one device. Apple TV has it right though, $109 per TV might not be a bad price so that you can choose to watch your content on any TV.

Maybe in 5-10 years we'll be saying --- "Remember the PVR? How archaic! We had to wait for weeks for an entire season! Now I just buy the show I want to watch and I watch it when I want, and where I want ... just like reading a book"

Someone's making money ... and it ain't me!

[WarDog]

I love the new Shaw system. Record 6 shows at once, wireless playback on any tv in the house. Of course we have HD everywhere, so I can see why you dont need it yet.... and we sold our old boxes on craigslist and got $75 each for them.

[StirCrazy]

I am getting the gateway set up soon, they have a promo right now that gives you an extra box, so you get the gateway and two TV boxes (saves you 140.00) or you can put it on your monthly bill at 14 bucks a month.

I have one PVR that they will trade strait across for another one so that will give me the boxes on 3 TV's which is what I have right now. you can still have regular cable to other tv's or older boxes so you could always buy a two or three tv set up and add the others later.

Steve

[gregzz4]

OK, I just got off the phone with Shaw

My first conversation with their rep was misleading, hence my first post has incorrect info

You CAN still use your old Digital boxes, so if you're inclined to, you can have the new Gateway installed on specific TVs and keep the others on the older system

They also told me that they install the system, not us, as they want to ensure there are no interference issues

Maybe I'll get it sooner rather than later, but I still want to think about it more