Intermittent Loss of TV signal

[Technojohn62]

Whilst watching TV, any channel, even catch up tv, iplayer, Apple TV etc the signal seems to stop & my TV goes black for a second or two then comes back on.  (Usually just after the murderer has been discovered).  Really getting fed up of it now. Sometimes it will buffer. I haven't been with Sky that long. I was with VM for years, so Sky is new to me, but so annoying.  Sky have taken us through all the reset etc, it was ok for a week, until last night & it's started again.  One chap said we needed to hard wire the puck.  Someone else has said it's because our router is near the window, the printer, the TV any other excuse they can think of.

they then had the cheek to ask if I wanted Sky sports & Movies for a fee. Like I'd subscribe to that & miss every goal because the TV goes black at the goal scoring time. 
so frustrated

[Padam_Padam]

@Technojohn62 

Did you follow any of the advice given by Sky? Have you tried hard-wiring the puck to your broadband router with ethernet cable and turning WiFi off on the network settings? This will give you the best chance of getting a stable signal to the puck because without one it'll continue to be problematic. 

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@Technojohn62 wrote:

Whilst watching TV, any channel, even catch up tv, iplayer, Apple TV etc the signal seems to stop & my TV goes black for a second or two then comes back on.  (Usually just after the murderer has been discovered).  Really getting fed up of it now. Sometimes it will buffer. I haven't been with Sky that long. I was with VM for years, so Sky is new to me, but so annoying.  Sky have taken us through all the reset etc, it was ok for a week, until last night & it's started again.  One chap said we needed to hard wire the puck.  Someone else has said it's because our router is near the window, the printer, the TV any other excuse they can think of.

they then had the cheek to ask if I wanted Sky sports & Movies for a fee. Like I'd subscribe to that & miss every goal because the TV goes black at the goal scoring time. 
so frustrated

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I'd suggest connecting it via ethernet, rather than Wifi ( and ensure the Wifi is disbaled in the steam pucj's settings, then unplug the puck for 1 minute). This will indicate if the strength and stability of the Wifi signal is the problem.

[Exiled-in-HH]

@Technojohn62 all the excuses are legitimate reasons why WiFi may not work consistently😉

Connection via Ethernet between device and router usually resolves such issues🤔

If issues continue check your connection speed between device and internet using the Netflix Network check on the device. Always measure a few times and few minutes apart🙂

[Enrvuk]

How ridiculous that people are suggesting ethernet as an answer here.

It absolutely shouldn't be necessary. Wifi is good enough for this frankly, limited amounts of data. 

Ethernet is impractical in many situations. 

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@Enrvuk wrote:

How ridiculous that people are suggesting ethernet as an answer here.

It absolutely shouldn't be necessary. Wifi is good enough for this frankly, limited amounts of data. 

Ethernet is impractical in many situations. 

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Volume of data has got nothing to do it with.

Wifi connections will be more unstable that ethernet connections because WIFI signals will be prone to interference. In addition most people use the ISP provided routers which are generally the cheapest and most basic available so will be unlikely to offer a strong and stable connection. Wifi does work with the Sky streaming platform however the experience will differ household to household depending on how the Wifi network is setup.

The reason a strong internet connection is required is because the sky streaming platform is fully remote, nothing runs locally from the Glass TV or the Stream puck, these devices require a constant connection to Sky's own servers which is where all the apps and shows are played from.

[Enrvuk]

Fair, the volumes of data shouldn't be an issue. It's just an appalling product. 

When numerous other streaming services work well on the same infrastructure, the outlier is the problem. 

I have a world class mesh network which works well with literally everything else. 

Sky have put together an infrastructure so bad it's a crime. As I say elsewhere, not surprising when you think SAFe will help you build good products.

The fact they have people who don't even work for them advocating for cat 5/6 in 2024 is the funny part. 

There is absolutely no reason it should be necessary. It isn't necessary for Amazon, Apple, Disney, BBC. etc etc

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@Enrvuk wrote:

not surprising when you think SAFe will help you build good products.

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Completely irrelevant to the point you are making.

As stated previously the reason the streaming platform requires the stronger and stable internet connection is because its architectured in a completely different way to the likes of Apple TV or an Amazon Fire Stick. These all have local hard disks to store apps and data locally, so stream directly from your device, the Sky streaming platform does not work in this way.

No one here will know why the decision was made to architect the product in this way, as Sky/Comcast would be unlikely to disclose that however there is almost certainly likely to be valid reasons for them to do it in this way. Don't forget this product has been designed to be a mass produced product that Comcast can easily roll out to all their international subsidaries with minimal customizations and differences between these terrorities, so its likely that also comes into play with some of their decisions.

[Enrvuk]

When we assess a product we look at how it performs. We don't second guess architectural decisions. We use the product. As a customer we don't look for excuses as to why something fails so badly. Unless we are an apologist for the company.

The product works terribly because it's poorly designed. They've made fundamental architectural mistakes.

When countless streaming services work very well, there is no excuse for creating a product that fails to work for so many customers. 

It's always amusing when someone feels they need to defend terrible customer focus. But thanks for the chat 👋🏻

[kop32]

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@MarkGoldsmith wrote:

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@Enrvuk wrote:

How ridiculous that people are suggesting ethernet as an answer here.

It absolutely shouldn't be necessary. Wifi is good enough for this frankly, limited amounts of data. 

Ethernet is impractical in many situations. 

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Volume of data has got nothing to do it with.

Wifi connections will be more unstable that ethernet connections because WIFI signals will be prone to interference. In addition most people use the ISP provided routers which are generally the cheapest and most basic available so will be unlikely to offer a strong and stable connection. Wifi does work with the Sky streaming platform however the experience will differ household to household depending on how the Wifi network is setup.

The reason a strong internet connection is required is because the sky streaming platform is fully remote, nothing runs locally from the Glass TV or the Stream puck, these devices require a constant connection to Sky's own servers which is where all the apps and shows are played from.

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And Sky fall into that category, they seem to use the cheapest network adapters of them all!!, I changed from Sky Q due to Sky's so called "mesh" which became unusable, in todays digital age ethernet connection should not have to be the answer and if Sky do recommend using ethernet then they should advertise it as that, every advert and article I have ever seen for Sky Stream mentions WiFi and not ethernet ......On the plus side I have been using sky stream for the last 2 weeks on my Deco X50 WiFi mesh system and it hasn't missed a beat, long may it continue. 

[Exiled-in-HH]

@Enrvuk The only reason to try Ethernet is to see if it solves the issues🤔

You can then decide whether to continue using Sky's fragile system😉