Anyone got the Shaw Digital PVR?

Mr. Analog · April 16, 2007, 11:16:01 AM

Good? Bad? Ugly?

Lazybones · April 16, 2007, 11:20:43 AM

I know a few people around the office that have them. Other than the occasional crash/lockup they seem to work well.

My Bell PVR tends to lock up once and a while as well, it seems to be a common problem for the more advanced set top boxes.

Mr. Analog · April 16, 2007, 11:40:03 AM

I was looking at the AVS forums and found a whole bunch of information about some of the weirdness apparent in the model (if what's pictured on the Shaw.ca webpage is the model they actually use right now). Additionally it supports firewire, so there'd be a way to rip the MPEG-2 stream off it.

Lazybones · April 16, 2007, 11:46:19 AM

Quote from: Mr. Analog on April 16, 2007, 11:40:03 AM
Additionally it supports firewire, so there'd be a way to rip the MPEG-2 stream off it.

Don't assume that, cable companies often use common hardware and have features disabled that they don't want their users to have. I would try and confirm that there is any function to that port from another shaw user.

Mr. Analog · April 16, 2007, 01:14:43 PM

Quote from: Lazybones on April 16, 2007, 11:46:19 AM
Quote from: Mr. Analog on April 16, 2007, 11:40:03 AM
Additionally it supports firewire, so there'd be a way to rip the MPEG-2 stream off it.

Don't assume that, cable companies often use common hardware and have features disabled that they don't want their users to have. I would try and confirm that there is any function to that port from another shaw user.

Granted this thread is a year old but still, might be worth renting for a month and checking out. The other option is to stream playback through the HDMI connection into my video card and re-record it that way.

Melbosa · April 16, 2007, 01:44:08 PM

You might want to talk to Cova about this. He utilizes his Shaw set top boxes to capture HiDef content through the Firewire port I believe?

Mags · April 16, 2007, 01:52:50 PM

Just to pass on: Don't go to Starchoice if thinking Hi-Def. There boxes are unbelievably brutal. I bought the most expensive one and it has been nothing but problems. I am currently on my 5th box and talked to tier-2 tec support many many many times so I know it's not just me.

Apparently part of the problem I was told, is that they used 4 different programming companies to develop the OS for that damn things. Surprise surprise when they slapped it together tonnes of bugs.

Cova · April 16, 2007, 02:25:15 PM

Ok..., where to start...

I used to have a shaw HD PVR (a DCT-6208 - they don't sell that one anymore though, small HD and a single tuner), and I can say that they are a little unstable, and have some bugs. Mine would occasionally get corrupt recordings, which would cause the box to act funny until I reset it by pulling the power cable out. I also never found the automatic expiry of old shows to make room for new recordings to work very well.

As for the firewire thing - Shaw does leave firewire enabled on their STB's, and they don't use any 5C encryption on any channels. I never had the 6208 hooked up over firewire, but I have a DCT-6200 (single-tuner non-PVR HD STB) hooked up over firewire to my HTPC - works great with MythTV for a linux-based home-built PVR, or you can use CapDVHS on windows for just basic recording functionality (some very limited scheduling in it, but thats it).

And you won't be able to record by capturing the stream over HDMI. There are no DVI/HDMI capture cards on the market in the consumer price range.

Mr. Analog · April 16, 2007, 03:05:09 PM

Thanks for the info guys