Bell HD Satellite?

[Voodoo Child]

Hey guys,

In the market for an HD provider and of course we here in Alberta have 2 choices, 3 if you include Telus after June 1st.

Shaw's HD package is limited and weak.
Bell has close to 30 channels and seems to be the best but I've heard the install can be quite costly.
Telus I have no info on.

Does anybody have any good reviews, advice on the Bell HD satellite system?

All help is appreciated.

VC:thumbsup:

[loft_man]

Go and rent the Bell system. If you sign a two year contract you get free professional installation.

[CaptainReboot]

I heard Shaw will be releasing 9 more HD channels by September.

[rage2]

Nothing (in Canada) beats Bell's HD selection and receiver features (9200PVR).

[Voodoo Child]

Ok let's say I go with Bell then.
I'm moving in to a brand new house that isn't pre-wired for Satellite, only cable
How extensive is the installation and will I be able to run 2 boxes to 2 different TV's?


Thanks again guys.:thumbsup:

[justincalgary]

If you get the PVR version, you can run the one box to two tv's. You can also record live tv and rewind it, really handy for the playoffs. Like was said above, if you sign up for a 2 year contract, the installation is free. My house wasn't pre-wired either and the guy was in and out in under an hour. Wasn't hard at all. Their customer service sucks, but the channel selection more than makes up for it.

[Sykes]

Originally posted by justincalgary
If you get the PVR version, you can run the one box to two tv's. You can also record live tv and rewind it, really handy for the playoffs. Like was said above, if you sign up for a 2 year contract, the installation is free. My house wasn't pre-wired either and the guy was in and out in under an hour. Wasn't hard at all. Their customer service sucks, but the channel selection more than makes up for it.

I second this. We just got our Bell HD setup a month ago. Install was less than an hour and the tech was super helpful and friendly. We had subscribed to ShawHD prior to this and I can say Bell's quality is much much better...

[Voodoo Child]

When you guys say you can run 2 tv's off one box, does this mean I can watch 2 different shows at once?

[snowboard]

Originally posted by Voodoo Child
When you guys say you can run 2 tv's off one box, does this mean I can watch 2 different shows at once?


yep
and with this feature you can record two shows at once, or watch a show and record one.

[RC-Cola]

I would absolutely agree that Bell is the way to go. Installation is a little bit a of a bitch with the 9200 box as you need to run four cables from the dish to the splitter (this is usually in a utility room) and then to the box at the TV itself.

Once at the TV you can run another cable to a seperate TV elsewhere in the house, but you need to run it from the first TV not the splitter. When you do this, you lose your picture in picture capability. Also the image on the second TV will not have a High Def feed, but just standard def. You'll still get all the channels to the second TV, it will just sent it in Standard Def.

I had the system installed just before I drywalled everything so it was super easy to run everything.

I have been to buddies houses that are running Shaw and I can't believe the difference. I have also had people come over and say my system is that much better as well. It might be the Plasma that I have or that I took the time to properly calibrate everything or the quality of the feed from Bell. :dunno:

[anarchy]

Telus doesn't have HD and they likely won't for a while, considering they have to find a way to get 10mb of bandwidth to run it.

[CaptainReboot]

I have a quick question for someone who has been on Bell.

Usually there is a credit for new accounts (I hope). Now, I went through the website to price everything out, the maximum rental credit is -$240. My monthly bill will be about $74.50 not including taxes.

Will that 240 credit I get be spread out over the 24 month contract? Would my bill then be 64.50 for the first two years (-10 per month)? Or could it be 54.70 the first year (-20 per month)?

I want to know exactly what I am paying per month before I go ahead and do this.

Let me know if anybody has signed up with Bell recently, and knows how their bonus credits work.

Thanks a bunch.

[CRXguy]

Bell's HD selection is by far the best. The only thing they need to fix is hire new ppl in the billing department. That's the only thing I have against Bell. They billed me full price for Centre Ice when I was suppose to get it for 50% off. Another thing is I'm suppose to get a 2 for 1 deal on receiver rental, but they've been charging me $20 instead of just $10. Just make sure to double check that before signing anything.

I'm running two 6100 receivers at my house. One for the family room and the living room downstairs. If you go with the 2 year rental and your programming is over $47, you get 2 receivers for the price of one($10/mth).

Good luck.

[GQBalla]

what about star choice?

[CaptainReboot]

Originally posted by CRXguy
Bell's HD selection is by far the best. The only thing they need to fix is hire new ppl in the billing department. That's the only thing I have against Bell. They billed me full price for Centre Ice when I was suppose to get it for 50% off. Another thing is I'm suppose to get a 2 for 1 deal on receiver rental, but they've been charging me $20 instead of just $10. Just make sure to double check that before signing anything.

I'm running two 6100 receivers at my house. One for the family room and the living room downstairs. If you go with the 2 year rental and your programming is over $47, you get 2 receivers for the price of one($10/mth).

Good luck.

How long did it take for the install to come and put everything in? Did you have to wait a few weeks or was it pretty quick after you agreed to it?

[CRXguy]

Install took about 2.5hrs or so. They sent out some young kid who seemed kinda confused. :rolleyes: I waited about 2 weeks for the install after I booked it over the phone.

[CaptainReboot]

Originally posted by CRXguy
Install took about 2.5hrs or so. They sent out some young kid who seemed kinda confused. :rolleyes: I waited about 2 weeks for the install after I booked it over the phone.

Haha..that's all you need. Some confused kid drilling holes in your roof.

Thanks for all the info. I'll drop by a Bell store tomorrow.

[digi355]

Heard from Shaw or a guy on the street? Anyone now if Bell has fixed the trouble they have been having with the recorded shows?


Originally posted by CaptainReboot
I heard Shaw will be releasing 9 more HD channels by September.

[CaptainReboot]

Originally posted by digi355
Heard from Shaw or a guy on the street? Anyone now if Bell has fixed the trouble they have been having with the recorded shows?



One of my buddy's friend works for Shaw.

[TomTom]

bell, i have the 9200 prv HD unit, every mainstream sitcom and show you would want is in HD, theres sports and discoveryHD lots of really good channels, it looks great , the install on mine was free when i bought it, other friend i bought one for he ended up paying around 220 or somthing to get it installed. it depends where your running the wires to and all that stuff. now im hope the HD looks good on the projector i bought 20 min ago.

the message above..if you mean the problems with the prv recorded shows, they updated the software, now theres no more freezing up and restarting when you try and record 3 shows, theres prority settings, and alot now you have the open to record all, record only new and all the old features, works better now in my opinion i dont get mad cause it dosnt do what pissed me off about it before.

[Dren]

Originally posted by GQBalla
what about star choice?

They have two different types
the recordable...and the non

699 -recording

179-just plain HD reciever

[googe]

shaw's hd pvr is overpriced and their HD service is shitty but it does have a firewire output so you can save shows to your computer, which is kinda handy. if only they would increase the bitrate...

[Loose]

I have shaw, the PVR is the way to go.

My GF has bell. It has better channels, and seems to have better picture, though we don't have the same TV's.

[snowboard]

stupid ass bell chagned the PVR style and i missed a bunch of shows :(