Pixelation on recordings mini box

[kik38]

@Oharedm

I tried this back in January, it had no effect, although it did seem logical as I have a first gen box that was almost full at one point, I also performed a hard drive reset.

[kik38]

@drunkensailor

I have the same setup and it has only ever been ITV HD recordings on the mini boxes for me, I also had an issue with sound on other channel recordings getting out of sync that could be fixed by dropping out of the recording and back in.  Since Q160 the ITV HD recording issues are still there, the sound sync issue has not reapperded but I am now getting occasional choppy sound on random live TV channels (BBC1 HD, BBC1 Regional, Sky One and Sky F1 to name a few I have noticed).

[Skycambs]

Hi all

Just tried an experiment this morning watched the same program that pixelated many times last night this morning and it hardly pixelated at all so trying to find the difference between the different times and what devices/electrical devices that might cause  problem.  

[Lanzarote2013]

I have noticed on the last two nights at around 21:10 wether watching a recording or live tv the mini box has pixelation which lasts around 20/30 seconds, and since the 160 update I've have more 'live' tv drop outs and pixelation albeit only a couple of seconds, I am loathe to send for Sly again as they will change my main box and I lose all my recordings

[Oharedm]

Pixelation is still  with me on the mini,  a recording of James Martin's cooking show was quite interupted this weekend.   ITV seems to be the main culprit channel. 

I have not found any pattern to it, except it is always a recording. 

Did I read that 160 cured it on minis for some people, perhaps it was premature.

[Q-tips]

Q160 (and new coax cables from the satellite dish) has cured some of the glitches on my hardwired 2TB Q system with two Minis…but introduced new ones.

Almost eradicated (on both live view and recordings) are:

- short pixellation events (and audio dropouts) which disappear on rewind;

- induced pixellation events when hitting REW and FF several times in a row;

But now here with a vengeance (on both live view and recordings) are:

- larger and longer pixellation events (with audio dropouts) which are replayable.

And since these 'embedded' glitches must be caused by Sky's hardware or signal (according to the engineer who fitted my new cable a week ago), they are viewable on both Minis and the main box.

During his visit, the engineer tested both my satellite signal and my network strength and pronounced them both perfect; so that leaves only the main 2TB box (which was a paid-for upgrade from 1TB 6 months ago).

I have also tested my system in wireless mode and it works fine - except that it suffers from exactly the same glitches. Netflix and Amazon Prime viewed directly from my Sony or LG TVs are faultless of course. And my HDMI cables were all routinely replaced by the previous Sky engineer.

So, the main box has to be the culprit…although strangely enough, it wasn't generating all these embedded glitches until the recent software update. So presumably the embedded pixellation is caused by both the box and Q160.

The good news is that, although bigger (full screen instead of a band of distortion) and more disruptive than the old pixellation, the new glitches are less frequent than they were (maybe one every couple of hours instead of 2-3 per hour)…unless I'm watching FishOMania on Sky Sports Mix where they came every 15 minutes. Otherwise they seem to be evenly spread across diverse channels including BBC, ITV, Film4, CNN, SkyArts, etc.

[Shane198911]

Having the same issues with our sky mini. Had lots of engineers out. Have replaced boxes ans boosters

happens a lot on ITVrecordings

still no fix and its frustrating. Ultra HD box downstairs is fine and no issues

[Skycambs]

Hi

have you got sky broadband and sky mesh?

[Ant1328]

After all these months the issue hasn't been sorted. 

It felt like it was getting better but my pixelation on my sky mini box has started to happen not only on BT Sports recordings but also on Sky Sports recordings now...

[1963dg]

ITV HD recordings on the mini boxes are by far the worse for me, Sound issues on other channel recordings getting out of sync and dropping out that could be fixed by stoping the recording starting again. Q160 had not sorted issues the ITV HD recording issues are still there albeit less frequent and not lasting as long.  The sound issue seems fine but I am now getting occasional choppy sound on random live Tv which is sorted by changing channels and going back to what I was watching. I have a ongoing complaint where Sky have agreed to refund me the cost of multi screen until the problem is fixed. I am sending an e mail today to see if they will still honor as I was assured the latest mod to software would fix. Sky need to investigate further as Q160 is not the answer.

[Ant1328]

Do you have an email address to contact sky on?

[Ant1328]

 how can they keep saying they've not heard of this issue..

[1963dg]

@Ant1328 

E mail address is the normal sky helpline 

Won't let me use it though in this message.

but it's basically help @ Sky customer support . com just take out the spaces.

You still have to go through the normal reporting fault questions but I had a good advisor and she looked into what had already been done and that another engineer visit or change a raft of settings would make no difference. One thing I will say is she admitted there was an issue and they hoped the latest update would help it has slightly but I still have issues. I sent another e mail today asking for a refund of my multi room and I sm awsiting skys response.

[Skycambs]

Hi

I have reopened a complaint the pixelation issue has been closed as sky say it was fixed in 160 software it clearly hasn't been fix for me. 
I have a complaints handler who got the back room support team to check my setting and mesh it was given a clean bill of health.  Once again they want to have an engineer visit.  
I tried watching recordings of  ITV and ITV2 last night and  got bad pixelation on both of my mini boxes.  
Perhaps all have problems should email the same as I have done CEO BskyB.

forum won't allow me to post his email but you can look it up.

[Q-tips]

Nearly the end of the road for me. Having tried everything else to fix my pixellation events (see my 27/7 post above), Sky tech team asked me to do a factory reset of my v3 2TB box on Saturday. All seemed fine for a couple of hours but the problems returned that night. There being no other remedy to explore, I think they will swap out my main box now.

Q160 definitely changed things for me though. It eliminated the pixellation I used to be able to induce by using the REW and FF buttons repeatedly in quick succession. And it improved the audio dropouts. But it introduced "embedded" pixellation for the first time - ie image corruption which ccould be viewed on all boxes or when replaying a recording. And since these are definitely linked to Q160, I don't see how a replacement box will help.

My SkyQ system is hardwired but the glitches continue when I switch over to wi-fi. And my Sky engineer says that my ultra-fast, ultra-broad and ultra-stable internet connection and hard-wired local mesh network should give me the perfect SkyQ system.