Tag Archives: value

How-To

eBilling – Easy as 1, 2, 3!

Wait! Who said you didn’t have super powers?! Whoever it is, go tell them off!
I’ll wait here!

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Seriously, though. You most definitely can do your part to make the world a better place. Heck! You’re probably already doing so! However, some of those many ways combine the useful with the pleasant. Take electronic billing for instance. Not only you get a notification through email as soon as your invoice is issued, but you also contribute to reduce the amount of paper in circulation. It’s somewhat like planting a tree with every electronic invoice you get. A green environment is a healthy environment! Hey! Put down that paintbrush and that green paint bucket! That’s not what I meant.

If we want to successfully make the world a greener place, we need to take the little details into account. After you sign up for electronic billing, you might want to have a personal account on our website. When we send your monthly billing summary via email, it is good practice for you to click the link to the detailed bill. That way you will be kept in the loop if we make any announcement. Besides, there are tons of things you will be able to do once you create an account online. Things like changing your programming, making a payment, viewing PDF versions of your invoices (those are very printer friendly), etc.

You can top it all off with an automatic withdrawal. The ways you can do this are literally endless. You can contact us to have it set up or… take a wild guess… Yup! You can also set up preauthorized payments through your personal account online. With instant invoice delivery via email, automatic payments through credit card or your bank account, the ability to manage your account online, all the power is yours.

Now you can simply sit back, relax, and let it all flow smoothly on its own. You can see more details here.  We thank you for your efforts towards a healthier environment.

By Rykselson H. A.

Fun Facts

Refer-a-Friend

Did you know that you can refer your friends or family members to Shaw Direct and receive a free month of service in return? With our Refer-a-Friend program, it’s simple!

If the person you refer opens an account with us and keeps it open for at least 60 days, we’ll cover your bill for one month. Do you have a bunch of people you’d like to refer to us? Go right ahead! For as many people you refer to us that sign up and stay for 60 days, we’ll give you the same number of free months. Pretty cool, right?

So, how does our Refer-a-Friend program work? All you have to do is fill out a form on our website. Once we have the information, we’ll take care of contacting your referral and getting them ready to go!

The day their equipment is installed and their service is turned on is the day the countdown to your free month begins. We automatically go through all of the referrals we receive, and assign the credit for your account once the 60-day period is up.

There are a few things to bear in mind with the Refer-a-Friend program:

–          Referrals can only be brand new customers, or former customers who have not had service for at least six months.

–          The programming credit is non-transferrable, so it can only be applied to your account. It also has no cash value.

–          The programming credit covers your base programming package (so, if you have Digital Favourites with a Take 2 added on, we’ll cover the cost of Digital Favourites only), and excludes applicable taxes.

–          In order to receive the credit, your account (the referrer) will need to be current with payments.

Have any questions about our Refer-a-Friend program, or anything else? Let us know in the comments!

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Programming

NHL Centre Ice

If the best game you can name is the good ol’ hockey game, and the best team you can name is from out of your region, then NHL Centre Ice might just be for you.

NHL Centre Ice is the ideal package for those who want to watch “out-of-market” hockey games. For example, if you live in Winnipeg, but you root for the Ottawa Senators, this would be considered an “out-of-market” game. This means you wouldn’t normally receive the game, which could make you a very sad Senators’ fan. Subscribing to NHL Centre Ice would help prevent this from happening (as long as your favourite team wins), providing you with 15 HD channels of goals, shutouts, and hat tricks. That’s up to 40 games per week!

This great package is available for $30.14 (taxes extra) per month for the duration of the regular NHL season. Wondering what you’ll need to enjoy all of the action? You will need a 600-series receiver (the HDDSR 600, HDDSR 605, or HDPVR 630), as well as an updated xKu LNBF installed on your dish. If you’re not sure what kind of equipment you have, follow the instructions here to find out. If you need any upgrades, contact us for more information.

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Bonus: Stompin’ Tom Connors – The Hockey Song

 

Technical Tips

Using an External Hard Drive with your HDPVR 630

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header_HDDShaw Direct’s Advanced HDPVR 630 has an integrated hard drive which allows you to record up to 175 hours of standard definition content, or about 45 hours of high definition content. Not enough space for all of the great shows you want to record? Not to worry – if you need more space, you can use an external hard drive to make sure you don’t miss a thing.

Wondering what kind of external hard drive will work with your HDPVR 630? Here are the required features to ensure compatibility:

  • Make sure the external hard drive has an eSATA connection, which is up to six times faster than even USB 2.0. This makes the external hard drive ideal for HD video. What’s more is that you can record two HD programs while watching previously recorded HD programming without any performance issues.
  • The external hard drive must be externally powered. Some may only be USB powered, but this will need to have its own power supply that plugs into an AC outlet.
  • The largest external hard drive that will work is 2.0 TB, which will give you an incredible amount of additional storage space. 500 GB will give you about 340 hours of standard definition or 90 hours of high definition; 1.0 TB will provide about 680 hours of standard definition or 180 hours of high definition; 2.0 TB gives you a staggering 1,360 hours of standard definition or 360 hours of high definition. If you were to fill a 2.0 TB external hard drive and the hard drive of your PVR with standard definition programming, you could watch shows from today (March 7) non-stop until May 10!
  • Look for an external hard drive that is rated for PVR or DVR usage. These are designed to be cooler, quieter, and support multiple HD streams being recorded or played at the same time. They’re also able to run all-day, everyday, which makes them the most reliable choice.

So, how do you go about hooking up the external hard drive to your PVR? There are just a few steps to get it ready:

  1. Connect the eSATA cable (it should be provided with the drive you purchased) from the external hard drive to the port labeled “eSATA” on the back of your HDPVR 630.
  2. Connect the power cable from your external hard drive to a power bar or wall outlet.
  3. If your external hard drive has a power switch, turn it on now. Ensure the power or status light illuminates.
  4. Restart your HDPVR 630 by holding down the power button on the front panel for 10 seconds.
  5. When the receiver comes back on, a setup wizard will guide you through the process of formatting the external hard drive for use with this satellite receiver. This will remove ALL data and partitions on the external hard drive.
  6. Formatting will complete within a few seconds and you will be alerted that your drive is ready for use.

There are some other things to bear in mind about using an external hard drive with your HDPVR 630. For example, you can only use one external hard drive with your PVR at any given time, and you can only use the external hard drive with one specific PVR. Additionally, the external hard drive won’t be able to be used with any other device while it’s “married” to your PVR.

If you decide to stop using your external hard drive with your PVR, or want to switch to a new one, you just need to disconnect it and reboot your PVR. The setup wizard will then alert you that your external hard drive is missing, and then will provide some prompts to delete it from your PVR. This will remove any associated recordings from the PVR list that were stored on the external hard drive, allowing you to connect a new one by following the setup instructions.

Having any problems using an external hard drive with your HDPVR 630? Check out Tech Central to read over some helpful tips, or let us know that you need a hand!

How-To

Go Green With Shaw Direct

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22_binYou try to do your part to help protect the environment; you recycle, shop locally, walk or bike to nearby destinations. So, why not sign up for Paper-Free Billing and Pre-Authorised Payments through Shaw Direct?

With Paper-Free Billing, you don’t have to worry about wasting paper and ink from the bill and envelope, or about the energy used to print and transport the bill to you. Instead, you receive an emailed notification each month to let you know that your bill is ready. Just click the link in the email, and you can login to your Self Serve account to view your most recent bill, and up to five of your past bills. Plus, you don’t need to worry about losing your bill, or not receiving it on time due to a delay with your mail!

If you sign up for Pre-Authorised Payments, say goodbye to  driving to the bank each month, or writing a cheque and mailing the payment to us! You can save time, money, and natural resources. And, your payment will be withdrawn on the same day every month, so you never have to wonder when you’ll see the money come out of your account.

As an added bonus, if you sign up for both Paper-Free Billing and Pre-Authorised payments at the same time, we’ll give you a small present as a token of our appreciation: you can choose from either two free Pay Per View or Shaw Direct On Demand Movies (to a maximum cost of $6.99 – cannot be applied towards events or adult titles), OR a one-time $5.00 discount on your next bill! If you would like to sign up, log in to your Self Serve account, or send us a note; we can be reached in the comments below, on Facebook, Twitter, or through email.

Shaw Direct is proud to do our part to be environmentally-conscious, too. Besides offering options like Paper-Free Billing and Pre-Authorised Payments, our head office uses electricity from a green energy provider, and are in a BOMA BESt certified building. We’re also happy to offer our HDPVR 630 with large cooling vents to allow for efficient heat dispersal, and a variable speed fan that only runs as fast and as long as needed to maintain an appropriate operating temperature to help reduce the energy required to watch and record your favourite shows.

Have any questions for us? As always, don’t hesitate to leave a comment for us!

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Apps

NBA League Pass on Shaw Go

app01Are you a basketball fanatic? Are you not always able to watch your favourite teams play because you’re commuting, away from home, or on the road? If this is you, we’ve got great news: We are excited to announce the launch of NBA League Pass on Shaw Go, available for all Shaw Direct customers who subscribe to NBA League Pass! This great app is a new way to experience your NBA subscription on your iOS (Apple) or Android device for customers who subscribe to NBA League Pass. Combining a live stream of games, along with a portal for scores and game schedules, the NBA League Pass app on Shaw Go promises the most interactive and complete NBA viewing experience.

If you don’t already have NBA League Pass as part of your programming package, all you need is a subscription to either HD Sports or HD Combo. Once you’ve taken care of this, you can contact us by calling in, emailing, or messaging us on Twitter or Facebook to get your redemption code for the app.

online01After getting a redemption code from us, visit the NBA League Pass page to register for an account so you can view content on the app. There will be a form to fill out with a username, password, and your personal details on the left, and then an area to enter the redemption code that you got from us on the right. Enter this, click “Check,” and then when you’re done the rest of the form, click “Submit.”

Now you can download the app to your favourite mobile devices. If you use Android, you can get the app here. If you use Apple, it can be downloaded here. The app will work on app02version 2.2 of Android and up, and on the iPhone 3GS and up, any iPad, or third generation iPod Touch and up with iOS 5.0 and later.

Once you launch the app, you’ll be taken to a login page where you can enter the account information that you just set up on the NBA League Pass page.

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You can scroll through the schedule day-by-day, or click on the date at the top of the screen to select a specific date from the popup calendar. For games that have already aired, you’ll see the option to watch the game replay, while for games that are currently airing, you’ll see the option to view the live game.

Bear in mind that, as with many sports, blackout
restrictions can apply. If you try to watch a game that was not available in your area, you will see an error message appear on your screen.

When you select a game to watch, you can skip ahead (only if the game has already aired), skip back 30 seconds, pause the game, adjust the volume, or enter full screen mode. Games are available to view for 48 hours, after which point the video will be removed.

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Pressing the “widget” symbol in the top right-side of the screen will take you to the settings menu. Here you can choose whether or not the scores display in the schedule menu for past and live games, view the FAQ, terms of service and privacy policy, and sign in or out.

Content will be available and updated on a daily basis until the end of the 2012-2013 season.  This will include every regular season and all-star NBA game. Don’t miss out on all of the action!

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How-To

Move Program

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moveprogram_blogHave you recently moved or are in the works of moving in the near future? It’s already stressful enough with the packing, cleaning, and so many other responsibilities that are known with moving, why add getting your TV services set-up to that list of worries? Here at Shaw Direct, we make it easy for our customers to get settled in their new home and help create a warm welcome.

The whole process is just one easy step: Give us a call! Any one of our representatives (available 24/7) can help get you going; just let us know the address of your new location and we’ll set-up an installation with a local installer on an open date that suits you best. As an added bonus, our Move Program is little to no cost for our existing customers! Have you had the services for over 12 months? Then the Move Program will cover the cost of a new dish installation at the location, as well as the installation of one receiver completely free of charge! Any additional receiver installs will be done at a highly discounted price of half off regular receiver installations – $25.00. Have you not had our services for over 12 months yet? Still no need to worry! The new dish install and the first receiver install together cost $25.00, and any remaining receivers needing to be hooked up are likewise $25.00 per receiver.

Make sure to pack up your receivers and remotes with everything else, but when it comes to the dish just leave the current dish at your old location and rest assured we’ll hook you up with a brand new dish with the newest technology at your new home. We recommend calling as much in advance as possible so we can ensure having the best availability for installation dates at the new location. Lastly, for those customers moving to an apartment or a condo most installers will require written permission from the landlord to be presented at the time of install so they can move forward.

Now that you’ve got all the info on our quick and easy Move Program, be sure to kick up your feet and relax while enjoying Shaw Direct service from day one in your new home!

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