topic Re: Worst-ever Sky Q video glitch! in Sky Q

Worst-ever Sky Q video glitch!

Q-tips — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 08:59:31 GMT

I can't find many posts about video glitches and 3-minute video skips so this nasty experience must be almost exclusive to me. A Sky engineer came to fit a replacement box last week (he gave me a 32B12C) to fix frequent short pixellation glitches and audio dropouts on live and recorded programmes across all channels. He tested everything and declared my system to be the best he had seen. But now, as well as brief glitches, I'm seeing horror breakdowns on the satellite feed with the video skipping up to 3 minutes! Meanwhile, everything streamed plays perfectly. Any ideas?
The shocking evidence

Re: Worst-ever Sky Q video glitch!

lettice — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 09:33:04 GMT

That looks like a pixelation issue. Been quite a common issue over the years.
Can be many things, a poorly aligned dish, poor cable management, but assume your recent engineer visit should have fixed that.
Poor weather or atmospheric conditions can cause occasional pixelation or even temporary loss of signal.
Interference from other electrical devices closeby or even affecting range of the Sky Q box has been known to cause issues. Interference from devices like cordless phones, wifi cameras, baby monitors, etc can cause a pixelation issue. It may only seem to affect some channels.
BBC channels and CNN channel have generally been the poorest bitrates at times and have the most problems for pixelation errors over the years on the Astra satellites that Sky use.

Would suggest, even though it looks like you have tried some of it, click on the 'A broken or distoted picture' link tile in this Sky Q help article around pixelation issues;
No satellite signal - What does your TV screen look like skyq [OneHelp Pilot Shared] | Sky Help | Sky.com

Re: Worst-ever Sky Q video glitch!

Q-tips — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 09:53:02 GMT

Thanks but none of those apply chez moi. I even have wi-fi turned off on my wired Sky box. I can't avoid the fact that streaming works perfectly so the issue must be satellite related imho. But that was all checked last week and my satellite signal is a constant 80-90%.

Re: Worst-ever Sky Q video glitch!

nigea99 — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 12:18:54 GMT

hi @Q-tips

Is there any chance that this was due to the weather yesterday - there were many localised thick clouds and thunderstorms yesterday and these could easily account for a glitch of a few minutes.

The clouds need not be directly overhead - just between your dish & the satellites

Re: Worst-ever Sky Q video glitch!

Doc5907 — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 12:25:42 GMT

@Q-tips wrote:
I can't find many posts about video glitches and 3-minute video skips so this nasty experience must be almost exclusive to me. A Sky engineer came to fit a replacement box last week (he gave me a 32B12C) to fix frequent short pixellation glitches and audio dropouts on live and recorded programmes across all channels. He tested everything and declared my system to be the best he had seen. But now, as well as brief glitches, I'm seeing horror breakdowns on the satellite feed with the video skipping up to 3 minutes! Meanwhile, everything streamed plays perfectly. Any ideas?
The shocking evidence

@Q-tipsdo you work for the tabloids by any chance ?

With phrases like 'nasty experience' , 'horror breakdowns' , 'shocking evidence' and a YouTube video with a sensationalist opening it seems that way...🙂

Re: Worst-ever Sky Q video glitch!

GD1 — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 12:29:34 GMT

@Doc5907 Nothing like a tabloid-esque headline to over dramatise something.

Re: Worst-ever Sky Q video glitch!

Godfrey — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 12:31:05 GMT

Heavy clouds in the path between the uplinks and the satellites can also cause similar short term problems, but this would of course effect all subscribers.

Re: Worst-ever Sky Q video glitch!

TimmyBGood — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 16:34:59 GMT

@Q-tips wrote:

I can't avoid the fact that streaming works perfectly so the issue must be satellite related imho.

The Astra cluster serves many millions of users on Sky and Freesat: if there was a wider issue up there this forum and others would explode. However unlikely it may seem in any particular instance, local problems typically have local causes.

Re: Worst-ever Sky Q video glitch!

Q-tips — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 19:40:41 GMT

Well, I definitely had cloud interference this afternoon.

Re: Worst-ever Sky Q video glitch!

Q-tips — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 23:51:16 GMT

After today's storm-related video glitches - culminating in the complete loss of satellite feed mid-afternoon - I'm beginning to think that the "worst ever" glitch was also weather related. The skies were clear directly overhead but I gather there were isolated storms in the vicinity.

In better news, further testing of my newly-arrived Q220 software suggests that the ongoing pixellation glitches and audio dropouts are improved. For the first time in months I was able to enjoy some live Sky golf tonight and some Dave recordings without any interruptions.