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Shaw Direct’s promised firmware upgrade will never happen
In November 2008, Star Choice, now called Shaw Direct, announced that it would be updating the firmware of its DVR530, DSR505, DSR317, and DSR207 satellite receivers in the spring of 2009.
At the time, Canada’s number two Direct-to-home satellite television provider promised firmware updates with new features such as an enhanced electronic program guide, improved information screens for shows and movies, interactive search, new features for the digital video recorder and more.
In October 2009, almost a year after Shaw Direct first announced the firmware update, the company announced that firmware updates were still coming and would arrive in November 2009.
Now almost two years after the firmware updates were first promised, Shaw Direct has announced that it will not update the firmware of its satellite receivers.
In a stock response to consumer inquiries about when the firmware would arrive, the company says they have “chosen not to release the new software” because Shaw programmers are “unable to make the software perform to the standard that our customers expect and deserve.”
Instead the company is telling customers that want the new firmware functionality promised to them almost two years ago will have to wait and buy the DSR 605 and DSR 630 satellite receivers which Shaw Direct will begin selling later this summer.
Our readers tell us they are upset and angry over the company’s failure to deliver the promised firmware updates on multiple occasions, firmware they see say was necessary to fix simple bugs such as the ability for a $700 PVR to record two stations at a time despite having two tuners.
One Shaw Direct insider says the inability to get the code out after three years of development was a result of a technical development team which has been plagued by management meddling, poorly written code and weak project management.
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