by RichieMogwai


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So I went to the Shaw Cable office which is only a block away from my residence. The goal was to secure a Shaw digital TV cable. Unfortunately, the line-up was long and it took me thirty minutes before I got my wish. I was told that having Shaw digital TV installed was going to be as easy as 1-2-3.

For a while there, I thought the Shaw clerk who gave me the cable box was right, so I was in for a big, unfortunate surprise. I excitedly opened the box and made sure I had everything to set up the service, the cords, the cable box, power cord, and the instruction set.

When I read the guide I thought it was simple enough. I knew where to stick the coax cable, as well as the RCA/AV cable. I got to have the box activated

Shaw’s website did confirm that the box was activated and ready to go. But when all was said and done, my TV screen was still black as charcoal with not a single channel in sight. So I panicked. I played around with Shaw’s new remote, following the instructions to get it to recognize my TV, but after ten or more tries, I had to give up.

I just couldn’t get Shaw’s remote to work with my flat screen TV. My TV screen was still black and it said “No signal” in blue. It was then I realized that I had mistakenly connected the Shaw-provided coaxial cable between the box and TV, when I should have connected the other end to the cable outlet on the wall.

However, even after correcting my mistake, there was still no channel signal on my TV. So as a last resort, I had to call Shaw’s technical support. I hesitated up to the last minute because the last time I was on the phone with a Shaw techie I was on hold for ...

The techie’s name was Justin and he was quite helpful. However, it still took about half an hour or more before he figured out what the problem was. He had me put the RCA/AV cable into the red, yellow and white holes at the back of my TV.

Still not working. He had to recycle the digital TV box a few times, but that did not do the trick either. Finally, he asked me to put the original coaxial cabling back, the one that I had from the beginning of the Shaw cable service, where one end connected to the back of my TV and the other to the box’s RF In.

Next, Justin asked me to enter a code for my TV, which successfully paired the Shaw remote with the flat screen. Still, there was no TV signal. It was at this point when Justin said it might have to do with some activation delay

I changed the channels just to make sure, and everything seemed to be working at this point. Now I know what digital TV is all about. The picture quality is certainly clearer. My TV no longer had any blind spot, those dark hues in the corners, which gave me some difficulty viewing my favorite shows at night.

Even better, I could finally watch the National Geographic Channel, and The Sports Network or TSN. I’m glad I went for the Shaw digital service. It’s really a big difference not only in terms of the picture quality, but the sound and the additional channels available as well.

Indeed, it took a while to have the Shaw guy get the service up and running, but at least he was patient. And despite all the time wasted on the phone and nearly endless troubleshooting, I can tell you it was well worth it.

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