Sky+ Audio drop outs

[QWERTY1978]

I have Samsung TV in lounge. Sky+ box in under stairs cupboard. HDMI extender transmitter in cupboard, reciever at TV end. Goes via Yamaha DVR. 
I know that sounds complicated but it's all been working years. Since recent issues (initially was flicking between "check connection" and working) I have replaced hdmi extenders, as well as new hdmi cables both ends. Also used network cable tester on the Ethernet in between- all good. All working well again, picture is perfect! 
However I now have an intermittent audio issue - sounds drops for second or 2. Now the interesting part is that if I unplug the hdmi from back of sky and plug in something else, dvd, or phone (with converter) then play high quality video / audio all works fine with no drops... so think it must be the sky box? 
Sometimes I can watch like an hour of TV and no drops, but then others times it will drop so frequently it's unwatchable. What's even stranger is it seems to be specifically ITV that it frequently drops on with other channels not being as bad?!? So surely this is less about the connection and more about the box?

With my setup it doesn't really cater for getting the new Q box or glass as magic eye won't work to control the box in the cupboard from the lounge. And the sky cables only come into the cupboard....

Tried the usual rebuild, reset, full power off, etc

Any other ideas?

[Mark39]

I doubt it's your Sky box, to be honest. I don't recall seeing previous posts citing audio dropouts, apart from occasional broadcast issues. Really the only foolproof way of ruling out your HDMI extender and Cat cabling as the cause is to test with the box directly connected to a TV.

[QWERTY1978]

Seems like it is a known sky issue that others have been having - https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky/Sky-Witness-problems/m-p/4136631#M134977

[Kirsty+S27]

Hi @QWERTY1978 

I have escalated your post to our Community Messaging team who will invite you to a private chat shortly and help you with this.  

Just look out for the blue bubble to start the conversation.

Here's more information on how Community Messaging works -  https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Did-you-know/Escalating-a-post-to-a-Sky-expert/ba-p/3711147 

[Greenfingers001]

Thank you for escalating this. We have sent an invite to chat 🙂 

[QUERTY1979]

Hi, I'm @QWERTY1978 's wife, seems I am the account holder not my husband, so had issues with private chat verification... Could you please initiate another private chat with me for this Audio Drop out issue. Thank you!

[Addie15]

Hi there, I will resend the invite for you. Look out for the chat bubble. 

[Addie15]

Update-We are closing this session now, but if there is anything else we can do for you, please do not hesitate to reach out. Thanks.

[QUERTY1979]

Audio dropping at @ 17:05 on ITV 1 HD. Not frequently, but maybe 1 every 5 to 10 minutes. 😟

[QUERTY1979]

Audio drop outs were sooo bad during the England game last night that we had to switch to watching through terestrial instead of sky. The picture not as good but audio drops on sky ITV 1 HD made it unwatchable.  

[Kirsty+S27]

Hi @QUERTY1979 

I have escalated your post to our Community Messaging team who will invite you to a private chat shortly and help you with this.  

Just look out for the blue bubble to start the conversation.

Here's more information on how Community Messaging works -  https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Did-you-know/Escalating-a-post-to-a-Sky-expert/ba-p/3711147 

[QUERTY1979]

Hi all, thought I'd update back on this thread I originally posted.

so I had the sky engineer visit and explained how I was sure it was the signal/box as the audio drops were in the same places if I rewound on live pause... surely if same place then it wasn't the wiring / extender in between. 
They got a 10 meter hdmi and fed directly from the box to back of TV and it had no audio drops - so against my understanding/ thinking it did kind of prove it was the extender/wiring. Damn!

They gave advice on hdmi extenders, suggested they had seen bluestream work pretty well. After they were gone I looked back at the ones I got from Amazon and they were only £23 - I guess you get what you pay for... I ordered the slightly more expensive bluestream ones (£165) installed and no audio drops. So I still don't technically understand but problem resolved.

Thanks sky, even if you didn't solve, you found the issue and advised me well!

[Mark39]

Glad the engineer was able to confirm the cause of the dropouts and offer some good advice. They did exactly what I would have done, as per my initial reply.

HDMI extender technology has come a long way. The ones I originally used required two Cat5e cables for 1080i video and even then weren't reliable. Today's HDBaseT extenders are vastly better.