Shaw Direct HDPVR 630

[taltman711]

The 630 is now shipping. Has anyone gotten it yet? Owners' reviews would be welcome before I shell out $399.00 for a new box. Not that there could be any problems with a Shaw Direct PVR!!

Tim

 

[DJdish]

Thanks for the heads up

 

[tvro]

The 630 is now shipping. Has anyone gotten it yet? Owners' reviews would be welcome before I shell out $399.00 for a new box. Not that there could be any problems with a Shaw Direct PVR!!

Tim

Got mine last night put it in today so far so good have to wait for receiver update before I can try recording seems they have a bug in fist draft current version is 00.10 waiting for update to 00.13 overnight receiver is small compared to 530 picture looks great. Receiver has a small lag when you call up guide, remote is completely different but any Shaw remote will work with it. Haven't really put it through much as they told me to try not to play to much until it has time to update to new firmware. Just watching the Sask Ed game crashed once I was not touching it at the time.

 

[Imt2011]

Is it worth the money to upgrade from a 530?
Imt

 

[QCK]

I have the 630 receiver. It is very small in size. It has 14 day guide with much more detail then before, although it takes a while to load. It can record on two tuners. It has a 320 GB laptop size (2.5") hard drive. Currently the receiver will lock up. Sometimes you must manually soft reset it but most of the time it will restart on it's own. I have also had just one tuner lock up, and when that happens it will not record the shows you have set that have that tuner allocated for it.

Right now it is not worth upgrading. Once they start to move channels that are important to you to MPEG4 it will be time to upgrade.

Hopefully the bugs will be ironed out in the near future. I hated the partial 2.5 day guide on the 530 and I really wanted dual tuner recording so I could not wait.

 

[zbroke]

It is true that some have reported problems. Mine has worked pretty much flawlessly for 2 weeks...

The deals that SD has been giving make it definately worthwhile to upgrade: 99$ if you send your 530 back or 200$ to keep it.

For the subscribers in the US like me, it makes no sense to pay 30$ to send the 530 back thus adding around 30$ to the 99$ purchase price. 199$ is a no brainer and keep your 530.

I say worth it big time if you get the unofficial deals mentionned above.

 

[pablovi]

I want to know as well, I have to spend about $500 USD to get it, the shipping alone is more than $150. I want to know if it's worth it.

Whe will they move channels to MPEG4? and will they still be in the same satellite? Will they change the footprint?

Thanks in advanced.

 

[Tommyboy]

How much extra do you pay for the HDPVR each month?

 

[Frenchophile]

How much extra do you pay for the HDPVR each month?

no additional fee

 

[carl066]

It is true that some have reported problems. Mine has worked pretty much flawlessly for 2 weeks...

The deals that SD has been giving make it definately worthwhile to upgrade: 99$ if you send your 530 back or 200$ to keep it.

For the subscribers in the US like me, it makes no sense to pay 30$ to send the 530 back thus adding around 30$ to the 99$ purchase price. 199$ is a no brainer and keep your 530.

I say worth it big time if you get the unofficial deals mentionned above.

I agree. It is a pain and expensive to ship receivers back-and-forth (usually through an intermediary). I'll be keeping my 530 until it dies and go with the $199 deal once it is official. Let's hope the reviews to come on the new DVR are positive.

 

[Tommyboy]

How long do you think the 530 will last? 1yr 2yrs or 6mo..

 

[DJdish]

How long do you think the 530 will last? 1yr 2yrs or 6mo..

As I understand it if a change is made to MPEG 4, the 530 is upgradable, but if SD changes to DVB-S2, the receivers will not be able to use this format.

So the question is when will SD go DVB-S2 ?

 

[Satellite Expert]

Shaw will NOT be supplying the MPEG4 upgrades boards for the 505/530 as the production cost was going to be too high

Expect to see the 605 have a msrp of $149

 

[DJdish]

So, any info or insights on when SD will move to MPEG 4, thus forcing the upgrade from the 5xx´s to the 6xx´s gen ?

 

[Satellite Expert]

In the short term, Shaw will gain more space for HD by increasing the SD 8PSK conversion. That's why they are offering anyone with a defective SD receiver, a new 319 for $29.

There are still some software bugs porting the 630 firmware to the 605. Plus 630 sales have been much greater than Shaw expected, so they have ordered more 630s in lieu of 605s at this time.

I would expect all non remapped NFLST/NHLCI feeds to be MPEG4 for the 2011 season. If they need additional space they could offer Movie & French subs 605 deals.

All G1 feeds, scheduled for late 2012, will only be viewable with 6XX boxes.

Their timetable may change when they get CRTC approval for Canwest broadcast operations.

BTW, 6XX units have a much faster processor and are 3D + 1080p capable.

 

[peano]

The 630 is a nice box to be sure, but it is not at all stable with .13 firmware.

It freezes randomly and misses recordings regularly. Its not quite ready for primetime.

 

[Jumbo Dumbo]

misses recordings regularly

They have identified the reason for that - corrupt guide data

 

[QCK]

Now they just need to fix their code so the memory doesn't get bunged up which causes the receiver to reboot, and also stop the tuners from getting stuck and then not usable.

 

[Tommyboy]

What is the best price Shaw giving you for a new 630 if you are a Existing Customers?

 

[QCK]

You can trade you're 530 in and get a 630 for $99.00. I believe you can also rent the 630 for a year @ $15.00/month and then after a year you can buy the 630 for $199.00. Regular price is $399.00 and the 605 whenever it is released is suppose to be $149.00. The two deals mentioned above are not advertised and regular CSRs will not give them to you. You must request to talk to Customer Relations. Most regular CSRs will deny that there even is a deal as they did with me.