A&E HD, Rush & Equator... Should I bother to re-activate?

Z

Zoo

New member
Hi All,

I gave up my old Ultimate 7 package last September and "upgraded" to the newer packages with HD as I got a nice 50" Sony Grand Wega RPLCD and I have been in HD heaven ever since (the 9200 PVE helps as well). I had the A&E, Rush, & Equator for awhile.

At the time the A&E picture was awful and there was rarely a time that I would watch Rush (although every now and then something would come on Equator).

Has the A&E picture improved? Or, are they still stretching out the SD signal like they used to? If the pic is still lousy I will pass on re-activating it as I would rather PVR the American Justice and other stuff I watch in SD to save room on the 9200's hard drive.

Any opinions as to picture quality on the A&E HD feed would be appreciated as well as the content on Equator.

A wish list for me in the future would be another TMN HD channel, Animal Planet HD, TLC HD, History HD, National Geographic HD, and Showcase HD... I guess we will have to see how MPEG 4 and another sattelite will do...
 
My attitude is that to have them is better than to not have them, even though I don't watch Rush.

You don't have to call BEV anymore to activate those channels. You can do it on the web page and it will activate after about 20 minutes or so on a good day.
 
I've seen TLC HD and Animal Planet HD on a buddy's FTA HD set.
They looks FANTASTIC.
Hopefully they will come to Canadian providers if they can find room to carry it along with all the other new stuff and MUST carry's.

I think some of the other TV providers have announced TMN2 HD and already carry Nat. Geo HD and Showcase HD.

About the only things that looks good on A&E HD is Shannon Tweed on Gene Simmons Family Jewels!

While the eye Canada is nice to show off to friends, after the novelty wears off, it seldom gets tuned often.

It never hurts to revisit the market from time to time for the best deal.

The problem being Canada's HD leader is everyone is always trying to knock you off the top and some might be succeeding.
 
When they broadcast an HD show on A&E, it's good enough, and similar to viewing the network HD channels on BEV. They've stopped 'stretching' the 16*9 SD shows to fill the screen on the HD channel, and when these SD shows are on the result is a smaller 16*9 picture that looks very clear. It's not HD during these events, but at least it's not a stretched pic whose lack of definition is amplified by the stretch. I've never really compared the HD channel's picture of these SD shows with the SD channel's picture, but I think it is a bit clearer.

Some content on those other HD filler channels is actually quite interesting and informative, and is often worth watching. There is very rarely new content added though. It seems they have a few days worth of viewing at best, repeated over and over and over.
 
You can make the change on line...

If you have the HD Value Pack you already pay the
10$/month and you are entitled to receive those channels...so yes I would do it. I always want the most for my money!
 
I have gone on-line to update my account. I will see if I did it correctly and if the channels come back. Hopefully A&E will be better than I remember it from before.

Thanks for all the help gang!:D
 
It is nice to be able to do this on-line and not tie up a CSR for something so minor. I had not visitied the website for awhile but the ability to adjust my programming on-line is a nice option.

Thanks for all the help! Some interesting stuff coming up on Equator that I might PVR. So far the stuff on A&E HD is upconverted SD but at least they aren't stretching it like they used to and the SD image does seem better than the A&E SD version.
 
Just a factual correction: Rogers has been carrying TMN2 HD since last January. You get TMN, TMN2 (aka MMore) and MPix, each in SD and each in HD as part of the service's movie package. Plus two dedicated (SD) On Demand services -- TMN and MPix. And, yes, National Geographic HD and Showcase HD have been on air (and on cable) since last December.

While Bell is considering how to spin "The Full HD" this fall, it might consider how this can be so missing these three popular channels.
 
I've tried at least three times now, and that "Synchronize programming" feature on the BEV website accomplishes absolutely ZERO for me getting A&E-HD. It's still showing as pink in my program guide, even though the SD version shows up just fine.

Thanks, Bell - nice work for enabling that "feature"....or not.
 
Nuje what i your programming package? If you are with the old Legacy package (you will see a system charge of 5.99$ on your bill if you are) it doesn't matter how many resets you will do it won't work. You have to be on the current Genesis programmin packages to get it
 
I tried the other option and it didn't work. Once I did the "enhance your programming" option it was barely 15 minutes before A&E et al were back on my programming guide.

My main wish is that BEV stops changing their programming options for a long time so that they don't have so many "legacy" customers. It would be agravating to not be able to change your channels without giving up other channels. When I went the HD route I lost some channels I liked. That being said I picked up National Geographic and Documentary which I PVR all sorts of things from. I find that if I am going to watch a SD program now the content had better be darned good. Lots of cool documentarys and shows on History, Discovery (when it doesn't come on the HD version), and National Geographic. When these channels go HD (National Geographic, History, Showcase, TLC etc) I will be one happy camper! :)
 
If it didn't work that way the only other thing would be to call...

How long have yo suscribed to HD? If it's for over a year you might be classified as HD Value Pack Old. It's only a matter of taking the pack off and to put the new pack.
 
I noticed I don't have these channels as well.

I do subscribe to the HD pack but I am NOT ON A CONTRACT. My 2 year contract ended back in July. I have the Ultimate 12 package + HD.

Should I be receiving these channels? Just wanted in ask here before calling Bell.

Cheers
 
By the way, the synchronize button is not used to authorize channels but more so is used to hit a box - for example. If you box is not plugged in for lets say 3 weeks, you can use the synch button to re-hit your box. To get A&E, etc, please add or call the CC to subscribe to the new HD package of which will get you all the channels including A&E etc. Those channels were added after the first HD package thus, were not automatically included for all... it is very easy to get the entire universe of HD channesl.

edit: And there are no extra fee's or charges incurred if you do add the A&E etc HD channels...

MrTV
 
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