This programme is no longer available

[Andy_S1]

It would not be too difficult to have add another 'Status' to the list of options. 

A cynic might suggest that Customers are being directed to this forum to save the company from having an structured customer services function for technical issues such as this.

[manassas77]

I'm posting here to keep this issue alive as there seems to be no response from Sky. This is of course also related to the issues raised in the forum thread 'Sky-Q-has-to-be-reset-every-time-I-turn-on' (I can't post the link here)

and who knows how many other similar issues coming up in other threads. We could really do with a combined 'Q350 Software Issue' thread to gather up all the various problems to focus Sky's attention. I too have had a replacement Sky Q box sent out - it seems crazy that it must be costing Sky a fortune to replaced perfectly good boxes rather than get to the bottom of the issue.

According to Google Gemini:

When you have audio but no video, it confirms that the "brain" of the Sky box is working (it’s decoding the stream), but the HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) handshake has failed.

The message "This programme is no longer available" is a classic Sky Q "ghost" error. It happens when the box’s software loses track of the tuner's status because the video output stage has crashed.

And this: 

You've had the TV for 6 years with no issues, and now two boxes are failing. This proves the HDMI handshake protocol has changed on Sky’s end. Older Samsung TVs use an earlier version of the HDCP security protocol. The Q350 update likely tightened the timing requirements for that handshake, and your TV is just a fraction of a second too slow to respond, causing the box to "give up" and go black.

It seems that the problem is affecting older Samsung and LG TVs - can the folks on here confirm that this is the case? Or are there users that have different, newer TVs that are experiencing the same issues?

I have more from Gemini that may or may not be helpful. I've certainly tried everything that has been posted and workarounds that Gemini suggests to no avail, and I'm having to make sure the box has been rebooted from the wall and working before a programme starts recording, and similarly rebooted before I can watch anything. Totally unacceptable, and no doubt doing harm to the box and in particular the drive.

Hopefully Sky will see this post from a 25+ years customer and respond with some information about when it is likely to be resolved?

[Ian_abel]

Sony Bravia TV about 4 years old....same issue

I have worked around the issue by putting the sky q box into standby from the remote every night before turning off the TV at night.

Its worked successfully now for 10 days. However, if I don't put the sky q box into standby before turning off the TV, then within an hour the sky q box fails and has to rebooted. 

[ToooSloooow]

Also Sony Bravia, around 4-5 years old. 

[SimonRaybould]

Mine is also a Sony Bravia OLED about 4 years old and has the same issue.
I will try putting the Sky Q into standby each night and see if that helps.
Sounds like it might based on the experience of @Ian_abel.

[High+Chaparral]

I'm on an LG OLED CX from 2020.

Apart from last weekend when it worked as normal, this is where I am:

If I leave the box on overnight, it has  crashed by the next morning and I need to unplug/plug.

If the box is on standby, it hasn't crashed the next morning but I get "This programme is no longer available" and still have to reboot.

I've only had it happen upon first use in the morning - it hasn't (yet!) happened during the day.

[manassas77]

Interesting already that we aren't just talking about LG & Samsung. 

Earlier I put the box into standby using the button on the front instead ofthe handset, and it came back to life after pressing the button again (using the Samsung remote to switch the TV on and off) for the first time in ages. (that was outside of the 20 minute period where it seems to work okay). I'll report back after I've tested it a few more times.

One other thing Gemini suggested was to switch to one of the radio stations before shutting down. Tried it overnight and sure enough the box woke up for me again next day, Radio One was still streaming, but when I tried to change to a TV channel I got the audio only, and the 'this programme is no longer available' message. Didn't work for me, but maybe something else for others to test out?

[Ian_abel]

Meant to add - I had a new sky q box, post an engineer visit - that box came with the 330Q SW installed and the box worked perfectly for a day, then the software auto updated to 350Q and the box stopped functioning correctly.

i think it's definitely to do with the 350Q software and the HDMI hand shake incompatibility with older TVs which needs sky themselves to fix

[Laing1]

I have a 2019 LG with no problems but when I switch my TV off I put my box into standby the only problem I occassionally have is when I have the box set to 2160 for UHD it causes a handshake problem on start up but this is very few and far between,  but when set to 1080 its fine 

[manassas77]

Another update from Gemini why using the box standby button instead of the remote might be a short term fix:

1. The Bluetooth Driver Crash (The Remote Path)

When you use the Sky remote, it sends a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) command to wake the box.

The Problem: In the Q350 software, the Bluetooth driver is tied directly into the high-level operating system (the "middleware"). Because that middleware layer is what freezes during the idle memory leak, sending a Bluetooth signal forces the box to try and wake up a crashed driver.

The Result: The system panics, fails to initialize the HDCP video handshake with your Samsung TV, locks the tuner, and results in that black screen or "Programme no longer available" error.

2. The Hardware Interrupt (The Front Button Path)

When you physically press the Standby button on the front of the box, you are completely bypassing the bugged Bluetooth software layer.

The Mechanism: The front button sends a direct hardware interrupt signal straight to the power management chip. It is a hardwired electrical trigger that says "Power on the HDMI port right now," without needing the frozen middleware to approve it first.

The Result: Because the hardware forces the HDMI port to activate before the buggy software can stall it, it successfully negotiates the resolution handshake with your Samsung TV. Once the video bridge is open, the rest of the software clears its backlog, the tuners kick in, and your recordings schedule and execute flawlessly.

By turning the Samsung TV on first with its own remote, and then pressing the physical button on the Sky box, you are giving the older Samsung HDCP security protocol a clear, un-bugged signal to attach to.

This might be a workaround without needing to pull the power at the wall. It keeps the hard drive completely safe from data corruption while you wait for Sky to push the actual firmware fix.

So test this out for yourself ... Use your TV Remote to switch on the TV, then Physical Box Standby Button to wake up Sky Q (and then standby button to shut down the box before TV remote to switch off the TV.