SkyQ Download Failed Item Unavailable

[Rayn]

I have had download failed since Wednesday, this morning I could download one programme from On Demand successfully, but tried another one and it failed.  Am I right to assume I don't need to log a seperate incident and that Sky are working on it as a nationwide issue?

[Damien1]

Yes we do know. People are coming on here saying they're getting the same issues and using different ISPs. The last poster said they were using Three over 4G. The data is all right there in front of you to see. It's Sky.

[grog+arson]

@Rayn It may be worth you adding your voice to those that have already done so, but its entirely up to you, as they are painfully aware that there is a problem. 😉

[berniejn]

I upgraded from HD to Q three days ago including multiroom.

I'm with EE for broadband. HD worked fine for years. All streaming sesrvices work fine too.

After the engineer left I tried to download and repeatedly got "Failed, item unavailable" for all types of downloads.

I switched from WiFi to a Cat5 connection to my router - same problem.

Maybe 1 in 10 got beyond 0% before failing.

I spent an hour on the phone with a very helpful Sky engineer and we tried just about every kind of test and reset. No change.

He agreed to send out a new box which arrived this morning. After setting up I upgraded the s/w to the latest version and tried again.

First download was OK. Second failed with exactly the same error. So did subsequent attempts.

I've seen enough now to know that this is specific to the Sky Q system. The engineer is calling back later in the week to check the situation. At that point I will be asking for them to remove all the Sky Q equipment and revert me to HD. There's clearly something very wrong - as a (currently) 51 page thread seems to confirm!

I didn't buy into this contract to be an unpaid diagnostician for Sky - I just want to watch the available content hassle free!

[grayuk]

Same problem here.. no downloads on SKY content, but BBC and all other channels are fine, as is Amazon and Netflix

I upgraded to Q last week because the problem originally showed up on SKY +. I was told that it must be the box because SKY had no known issue. Upgrade, they said and the issue will be gone! Well, it isnt, its still here. The installation engineer told me that it is a known issue, but only on 3rd party BBand, no issue on SKY BBand. The engineer tried the DNS workaround by changing the IP to 1 1 1 1 and 8 8 8 8 neither worked, so we are all paying for a service that does not work.

Come on SKY get this fixed! Its been going on for a long time now!

[SimonInSudbury]

@berniejn  It isn't just Sky Q experiencing this download failed problem. My Sky+HD has had this issue for three weeks now. I suspect you will continue to experience failed downloads even if you revert to your previous setup, until Sky put in a permanent fix.

[grayuk]

Its not just SKY Q, I had the same problem on SKY+ for weeks, I then upgraded to Q because SKY said it must be the box! It IS a known issue to SKY.

It is because you are not using SKY BBand, which it would seem dose not have this issue. I also found that I could download all other content, from BBC etc. with no issues. So it is at the server end where the problem exists. SKY need to sort this out quick!

[Damien1]

@grayuk - if you mean BBC iPlayer and Netflix and Prime Video then those are all streaming services - not downloads. This issue only affects downloads.

[grog+arson]

Agreed, but the point is they are using the same Broadband connection successfully, so then issue is definitely leaning towards the last Software update from Sky.

[berniejn]

A bit more info from the Sky help pages....

Item unavailable

You’ll get this message if the programme you tried to record expired or was removed from our catalogue. You might be able to find another showing of the programme at a later date or download the show On Demand.

But that's clearly not the real reason.... unable to find any other helpful diagnostics.

[grayuk]

@Damien1 

The fact that th streming services work perfectly tells you that it is not a broadband issue, but I was also refering to catchup, which does download , there is no issue with any other channels but SKY.

[grayuk]

@berniejn 

Well thats a joke in its self. Do they think we are that stupid?.😂

[deejay55]

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@Rayn wrote:

I have had download failed since Wednesday, this morning I could download one programme from On Demand successfully, but tried another one and it failed.  Am I right to assume I don't need to log a seperate incident and that Sky are working on it as a nationwide issue?

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@Rayn - skyhelpteam on twitter acknowledge that it is a known issue and say they are working to resolve  - wouldn't do any harm to add your voice on twitter: search "sky q download failed"

[TrevA]

Hi, just spoken to a lovely scottish chap at Sky. He advised me to do the 8.8.8.8 work around on both my boxes and so far all is ok, I have downloaded a film (first time in a week) and also the next episodes of a couple of current series (American Rust and Landscapers)

Regarding the issue that BBC iplayer, Netflix etc seem to be immune to this problem he said to me the cause of the problem is adverts. If you watch a programme live the whole thing comes from one server, if you record a programme On Demand that was say on tv 6 months ago, the adverts included in that download are sent by a different server to the one that sends the actual programme content. Sky have known about this since the summer and are baffled as to how to get around it. The 8.8.8.8 work around and the alternative 1.1.1.1 if the first does not work is something they have come up with after talking to the broadband providers, in our case BT

It is important to turn your box off at the mains, then back on when there are no lights showing on the front, do the 8.8.8.8 fix, save and then turn off again at the mains, back on again and check that 8.8.8.8 is still showing before trying to download. Repeat process with any other boxes you have . I did explain that there was a Sky Community forum currently very un-impressed with Sky and that if indeed this woud turn out to be only a temporary fix, I would be straight back onto them

He seemed confident it would work, time will tell......

[deejay55]

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@grayuk wrote:

Same problem here.. no downloads on SKY content, but BBC and all other channels are fine, as is Amazon and Netflix

I upgraded to Q last week because the problem originally showed up on SKY +. I was told that it must be the box because SKY had no known issue. Upgrade, they said and the issue will be gone! Well, it isnt, its still here. The installation engineer told me that it is a known issue, but only on 3rd party BBand, no issue on SKY BBand. The engineer tried the DNS workaround by changing the IP to 1 1 1 1 and 8 8 8 8 neither worked, so we are all paying for a service that does not work.

Come on SKY get this fixed! Its been going on for a long time now!

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@grayuk - skyhelpteam on twitter acknowledge that it is a known issue and say they are working to resolve  - wouldn't do any harm to add your voice on twitter: search "sky q download failed"