topic Re: Quest sound drop outs in Sky Q

Quest sound drop outs

warren-c — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 10:11:07 GMT

In the last week we've started experiencing audio drop outs on Quest channel. Watching James May or Shed & Buried there are repetitive soubd drop outs every few seconds. However if we go to catch up and download the programmes directly the download versions have no sound issues.

Things we've tried:

1) reboot sky box

2) box hard reset

3) remove al cables, leave for 10 mins then reboot

4) changing doubd settings in settings

We have a 7.1 Marantz surround system, but even connecting directly to the TV and bypassing the AV system altogether does not resolve the issue.

For context, no other channels are suffering the issue (SD/HD/UHD).

The repetition of the issue is unbearable (sometimes as much as every 3 seconds).

I'd be very grateful if this could be fed back to Sky & the team responsible for issue resolution as it is not an issue with our equipment. Apple TV 4k and other sources have no issues..

Re: Quest sound drop outs

oldfella — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 10:33:44 GMT

Hi @warren-c

You can report the issue to Sky Viewer relations.

viewerR@sky.uk

Re: Quest sound drop outs

warren-c — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 15:08:21 GMT

Thank you for this, appreciated. Will do it this afternoon.

Re: Quest sound drop outs

Allan+N — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 17:49:37 GMT

I'm getting these sound drop out every 30 seconds or so. I'm watching on freesat directly on an LG TV, so I think it's not a sky tv box problem.

Also as you say, I've not noticed it on any other channel.

Re: Quest sound drop outs

warren-c — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 18:15:20 GMT

Thanks Allan, that's really useful feedback. Sky customer relations came back to me stating it must be my equipment because in their world all is perfect(!), so at least I can take some comfort it appears to be a wider programme /channrl issue.

Re: Quest sound drop outs

GB32 — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 14:42:31 GMT

I have the same issue and reported it to Sky cstomer relations on the 27th and got a reply asking for more detail so I have sent a detailed list on what I have done to try to resolve with regards to the fixes recommend via the internet, of which none have worked effectivley . I am now waiting for their feedback.

I have the Sky Q 2TB box . I am using a Sony Bravia OLED tv XR and a Sony a9000 sound bar.

The problem doesnot appear to be an issue on Sky Glass or Steam or any apps that uses the Internet to produce the signal based on the reserach I have done. It seems like the Quest HD channel being produced via the Sky Satellite is not correctly decoding in real time, especially if the issue is on Freesat also.

The only way I can stop it is to set the sound setting from Dolby Dig + to normal, but a pain in the backside, when wanting to watch other channels, as they are all in normal sound not dolby and then have to change in settings again, or watch a none HD channel 834 😟

It will be interesting to see what Sky come back with.

Re: Quest sound drop outs

SteveOne23 — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 17:38:38 GMT

Did anyone get a response as I've had this issue for months

Re: Quest sound drop outs

warren-c — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 18:59:40 GMT

No, as usual the suggestion. Is always test my equipment.

I had the same intermittent sound drop again this week and got round it by going to :

Go to the apps section in the planner, then on the On demand section for the Quest Channel download the programme you want.

I appreciate on occasions it could be customer kit that is the issue, but we've swapped out HDMI cables and run a high grade AV system and no other channels present this issue. It's definitely a programme delivery issue but until Sky are prepared to acknowledge it then it will never get fixed.

Re: Quest sound drop outs

tunneltiger — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 19:38:19 GMT

I have an LG C4 and I also get sound drop outs on Quest, not on any other channels, only seems to have started since it changed to channel 140

Re: Quest sound drop outs

GB32 — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 20:08:19 GMT

I got response from Sky Relations saying they could not replicate the issue. They also.informed me that it was a Discovery issue not sky and advise i contact discovery who own Quest . So i contacted discovery and their response was.because it was not happening on digital only happening on the satellite broadcast it was down to Sky. Table tennis ! No one wants to own the issue. I have not had any further responses since. I did advise Sky and discovery that I had video evidence to share but failed to acknowledge this fact . Very frustrating. The issue appears to only occur when using dopby plus HDR format and must be a decoding issue in the transmission creating the sound delay. This is definality a know issue across the web.

More people need to report it to sky relations .

Re: Quest sound drop outs

AndrueCope — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 21:31:10 GMT

It sounds to me like the same issue that impacts Discovery HD except that the fix for that (disable Dolby audio output which I have done) isn't as effective. Quite frankly I doubt we'll ever get it fixed. Despite numerous attempts by numerous people Sky/Discovery claimed they could never replicate that issue and after marking one of their useless responses as a solution the thread died. My theory is that they know the cause but it's the result of an upgrade that they can't back out so they are just pretending ignorance.

Strange that it appears not to be a Sky box issue. Guess it must be something on the uplink side.

Edit: It seems like the Quest HD channel being produced via the Sky Satellite is not correctly decoding in real time.

Sky haven't owned or been involved in the operation of any satellites for decades. The satellites are owned an operated by two completely unrelated companies - broadcasters just rent capacity on the satellites. Sky is really just an EPG and encryption system that a broadcaster can choose to be listed on if they wish, as is Freesat - albeit without the encryption. Channels that are available on both platforms are not duplicated on the satellite so it must be something on the uplink side.

Re: Quest sound drop outs

SteveOne23 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 18:03:56 GMT

Has it been fixed? Mine seems to have been ok for the last few days!

Re: Quest sound drop outs

warren-c — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 18:24:39 GMT

No, I watched moto gp this week and suffered about 5 drop outs. Its improved but its not fixed complete. I was getting them every 10-20 seconds a few months back.