Switching to Shaw Direct (Atlanta, GA)

[mecdatlanta]

Greetings,

Sorry for the long post. I know there are some smart CDN satellite folks in this forum and I have a number of dilemas I am facing...

I have had BellTV (formerly known as BellExpressVu) for the last 5 years here in Atlanta. We are getting ready to move to another part of Atlanta, and I thought now might be a good time to consider switching to Shaw. Even though I have the BellTV (actually Dish dishes pointed to Bell's satellites) hardware, I cannot get the HD channels, due to geography.


Here is my situation:

• Live in Atlanta, GA
• Have Canadian satellite programming primarily for French programming (mainly for kids)
• Currently have one DVR receiver (5900) that plays (via coaxial cabling already present in house) in various rooms throughout house.
• I don't currently own an HD television, but will probably want to buy one in the future

My questions are:

• Should I switch? Is there anything that I should be aware of?
• I plan to have a Dish or DirectTV independent installer do the installation. A wise move? I can't see myself climbing on our roof to do it myself and it just seems to make sense to me to have a professional do the setup. I am not sure how to approach the "I need you to install a satellite that is neither Dish nor DirecTV" issue. Any thoughts?
• Can I have one receiver send a signal throughout my entire house (like I have currently)? It seems to me that I would want this since I do not wish to pay $400+ per DVR per room with a tv and pretty much everything we watch is recorded, rarely "live". Also, we don't have the need to all be watching something different at the same time (not yet at least).

I have even thought of trying internet tv for a while, but I don't know how much French programming there is out there and I imagine some would be blocked based on IP address geography, due to out of country licensing issues. Also, I imagine that I would need to invest in some hardware that would probably be more costly than the receiver I am contemplating.

Thanks for any feedback you can provide. We move in a month and the kids will go crazy if they can't watch Diego and Dora (in French of course).

 

[Frenchophile]

disclaimer: I have shaw direct

if you have bell right now, it may be easier to stay with it. you won't have HD, but you will still get Dora L'exploratrice.

if DVR is important for you, i advise NOT getting shaw direct; a lot of people have had problems with the 530. if you have a faulty unit, getting replacement in the US will be difficult. Allegedly, a new generation of receiver/pvr is in the works for shaw direct, but it's all speculation. no idea when/if it would come out. one other thing, if you want shaw direct, you will have to pay up front for hardware, not cheap.

ps: my daughter (4) like watching french shows, too. she likes Les Mysteres de Tourneville on SRC and les Melodilous on tele-quebec.

 

[mecdatlanta]

On second thought...

Bonsoir Frenchofile et merci!

We have something in common -- both our children live in the U.S. and watch Tourneville and Mélodilous! My son also likes the rétro Spiderman and Super Héros. And one mustn't forget Caillou!

Thanks for the heads-up on the DVR. I also spent some more time looking over the French programming offered by Shaw. While Shaw seems to have more total channels (especially HD), their French offering seems less extensive. One channel that my kids couldn't live without is TFO. For some reason, Shaw doesn't carry it.

I guess I will stick with BellTV. It annoys me that I can't get HD here in Atlanta, but I guess one can't have everything. Maybe when Shaw gets their DVR issues resolved (and my Bell 5900 dies), I'll revisit Shaw.

Until then, bonne continuation et merci encore!

mecdatlanta

 

[mecdatlanta]

Installer thoughts

Dear All:

I am still interested in your thoughts on having an independent Dish installer install and position my BellTV dishes. Any thoughts on that? I don't know how they would react and am concerned they may think I have an illegal Dish Network dish or something to that effect.

mecdatlanta

 

[QCK]

There are no laws in the US saying you cannot have a Canadian satellite subscription. The installers won't care. It will be very easy for them to install a Bell TV dish if they are already familiar with Dish Network. There is no need to worry at all IMO.

Just as a side note, a new satellite named Nimiq6 will be going up at the 91W location (where you are currently getting your channels from) in 2012 and if they repoint the footprint like they did with Nimiq4 (the reason you are not getting the HD channels) at 82W you may not get Bell TV at all after that, but you can worry about that when and if that does happen.

 

[mecdatlanta]

Thanks QCK! I didn't know about the proposed satellite changes either. Looks like I need to get the most of of this hardware that I can.

Thanks again for yours and Frenchofile's input. This is a great forum. I feel guilty for not being a big contributor, but I am definitely not as technical as most of you and don't have as much to offer in that regard.

mecdatlanta