Question for you guys

shabbs wrote:

wprager wrote:Couple more things to consider:

*snip*

Indeed. There are a lot of quirks you mentioned that can be annoying. In talking to my friends, I'd say the Bell PVR and Guide is much better and flexible than the Rogers equivalent.

The only other option is to roll your own PVR using an HTPC.

Easier said than done when using digital cable; pretty much impossible if you want high-def. As far as I know the only technology currently available for that would be CableCARD, but that's not being used by any MSO in Canada as far as I know (and it may not be in the US for much longer, what with Tru2Way being pushed by everyone).

wprager wrote:Easier said than done when using digital cable; pretty much impossible if you want high-def. As far as I know the only technology currently available for that would be CableCARD, but that's not being used by any MSO in Canada as far as I know (and it may not be in the US for much longer, what with Tru2Way being pushed by everyone).

You'd need to go OTA with a tuner card to get the HD.

shabbs wrote:

wprager wrote:Easier said than done when using digital cable; pretty much impossible if you want high-def. As far as I know the only technology currently available for that would be CableCARD, but that's not being used by any MSO in Canada as far as I know (and it may not be in the US for much longer, what with Tru2Way being pushed by everyone).

You'd need to go OTA with a tuner card to get the HD.

Well, I could tell from that answer (without looking at your profile) that you're not from the Ottawa area Not much OTA around these parts. Just CBC-HD at Camp Fortune and possibly a PBS-HD, with a tower, perhaps.

wprager wrote:Well, I could tell from that answer (without looking at your profile) that you're not from the Ottawa area Not much OTA around these parts. Just CBC-HD at Camp Fortune and possibly a PBS-HD, with a tower, perhaps.

True... true.

smash88 wrote:

shabbs wrote:

smash88 wrote:Did you just get it straight through Rogers? I'm trying to find one, don't need HD as i don't have an HD TV yet... Do you know how much they go for??

I rent mine through Rogers. A few have had issues... when you rent, you can just swap it out. If you buy one, you need to send it back to get repaired etc...

I've had to replace my PVR three times in total so far so I don't mind renting and having the flexibility of swapping it out easily.

Do you know what the charge is per month??

I rent mine, and HD PVR, I believe it is 25.00/month or something. They are still like 400.00 to buy a HD one.

Aetherial wrote:

smash88 wrote:

shabbs wrote:

smash88 wrote:Did you just get it straight through Rogers? I'm trying to find one, don't need HD as i don't have an HD TV yet... Do you know how much they go for??

I rent mine through Rogers. A few have had issues... when you rent, you can just swap it out. If you buy one, you need to send it back to get repaired etc...

I've had to replace my PVR three times in total so far so I don't mind renting and having the flexibility of swapping it out easily.

Do you know what the charge is per month??

I rent mine, and HD PVR, I believe it is 25.00/month or something. They are still like 400.00 to buy a HD one.

Yeah it's probably worth it, but I just added the Centre Ice package so that was 30 bucks, i'm not quite sure if adding another 25 bucks is wise! LOL

Trust me. PVR is worth it.

Try it for a month and you'll never look back.

smash88 wrote:
Yeah it's probably worth it, but I just added the Centre Ice package so that was 30 bucks, i'm not quite sure if adding another 25 bucks is wise! LOL

Also be aware that Rogers likes to charge you some fee if you are not renting the box from them. I think it's $5/month for digital services. They might also stil charge a fee for HD services, which may be another couple of bucks. So buying versus renting is not as simple as $25/month.

As an existing customer, I've heard of some people asking for, and receiving some freebies or discounts. Usually they start by mentioning a deal they would get from the competition (BEV, usually) if they switch. The CSR will then say that, sorry, but there are not specials for existing customers. To this you say that you are seriously considering switching to BEV. Ask them to forward you to the Retention Department, as they have a lot more leeway as to waht they can offer. At the very least they could offer you a break on the digital services fee (so you can buy your own and not pay them any more for the privilege of using it). Or you could strike gold an get one rent-free for a year or two.

Cuurent price for the 8300 is $500 at FS, but I've seen it very recently for $299.99 (more likely $400 plus $100 in programming credits). There is also one up for sale on Ebay.ca ($261 including shipping). It's used, though.

I hate the hoops you have to jump through to get a deal with Robbers or Dell or any of those big companies.

My cell contract is due to expire in a little bit. Not looking forward to going through that one again.

For me I hate Satelite with a passion. I know my Cable channels and I love being able to browse by different themes and titles which you can't do with Satelite. I don't know about you but I really don't want to have to memorize 500 channels.

mattshock wrote:Trust me. PVR is worth it.

Try it for a month and you'll never look back.

Yeah I know it's worth it, I've been wanting one for a while now, I think i'll just wait till after the season, because I've been extremely unimpressed with CI so i think i'll cancel CI next year and put that money towards a PVR...

Really? What's been so bad with CI?


I was considering getting it.

mattshock wrote:Really? What's been so bad with CI?


I was considering getting it.

It's just been very inconsistent...

I thought i'd be able to watch the Montreal games... But since they are on RDS they don't play on CI (I speak french, but I can't stand the RDS guys at all)

A lot of the time, the game is playing but it isn't listed...

perfect example, the day when all 30 teams were playing there should have been 15 games on CI, there were 8....

Whenever I call Rogers to complain, no one knows what i'm talking about, and no one can help.. It would be worth it if it was 10 bucks a month maybe, but for the service quality and just overall maintenance it is definitely not worth 30 bucks... Maybe if I watched all the other sports it would be worthi it, but really i'm only interested in Hockey... and the hockey service is the worst one from what I hear.. Supposedly there are no issues with NFL or MLB...

8 instead of 15?? That's brutal...

mattshock wrote:8 instead of 15?? That's brutal...

Yeah exactly.. I've talked to a few people and supposedly this year is worse than usual.. So I don't know if it will correct itself or not but it's really annoying and frustrating...

I might just stick with the Slingbox + local coverage for a while.

I'm used to Dean + Gord anyways.

mattshock wrote:Really? What's been so bad with CI?


I was considering getting it.

Honestly, if I was deciding how to spend my money, it would go towards a PVR instead of CI.

The PVR is magic. You will never want to watch regular TV again and wait through commercials!

CI is OK, but I find I can only watch so much hockey, and I only really am interested, or care about a handful of teams (NE Teams)... so CI seems like a gigantic waste of money.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:For me I hate Satelite with a passion. I know my Cable channels and I love being able to browse by different themes and titles which you can't do with Satelite. I don't know about you but I really don't want to have to memorize 500 channels.

But with a PVR you rarely have to memorize anything beyond 128 (CBC-HD for HNIC -- or 513 or whatever it is in the 500s), 501 (SNet-HD) and 502 (if you have TSN-HD). The rest you find your program once, set the PVR to record all and you're alomst done. Just monitor the program name changes (I know tricks that help). Terminator did not record last night -- this is the fourth time this season that the program name has changed. I'm going to complain and ask for free time-shifting of the US networks. I used to have them but they switched me over to VIP, and I now only have West-coast (umm, left-coast?) feeds for Canadian networks.