Sky Sports UHD picture keeps stuttering

[Ribsky]

I guess the issue is with a very small number of users as this site would otherwise be inundated. Sky unlikely to do much with you guys.

[kieranceltic]

I've also been experiencing this issue with Sky's UHD channels. I'm monitoring this topic and hoping Sky will resolve the issue as it's really frustrating but I haven't personally reported the issue myself as I've tried every possible fix. My puck is connected via Ethernet and I have a >1Gb download speed. 

[Gareth61]

It has to be the puck.

Everything runs through the puck and everything works except Sky Sports UHD on 401.

Forget the TVs. Forget broadband speeds. Forget who supplies the broadband.

I’ve got three Sky pucks, on three different TVs, and they all behave exactly the same way.

I’m on 500Mb Sky Broadband via the BT network. TNT Sports UHD works perfectly. Netflix works perfectly. In fact, anything with “UHD” on it works flawlessly, except Sky Sports UHD on channel 401.

That leaves only one conclusion: it’s the puck.

Not the TV. Not the broadband. Not anyone else’s equipment.

It’s a Sky puck issue. Fact.

[THeG]

It is the puck, it's under powered and was made for the American market where they are not streaming sports live in 4k

[Ribsky]

Mine fixed following a power down for a minute or so, turn on power up, switch default streaming from auto to UHD and pass through sound. Try it.

[Ashlar]

If it was just the puck, it would be a problem on all UHD stream including TNT, not just Sky Sports.  I think it's a more complex problem than that and is a combination of something wrong with the Sky Sport UHD stream (under provisioned for the number of watchers at busy times) causing jitter and the puck not handling it well.

[Ribsky]

Where's your evidence to support?

[SirCofS]

I have a Sony TV, on which I have problems with the puck.

BUT... I also have an Epson projector, a Samsung TV, and an LG TV which also share the same issues. So, I can confirm it's not a TV manufacturer issue, unless they share the same element that is causing the problem.

Today has been horrendous. Lots of bug games that sky have been promoting all week, just try flicking between them! Impossible.

Restarted repeatedly, sometimes left with a blank screen, other times left with 'technical fault' or 'please wait while loading'.

Had this problem since switching to Sky Stream around a year ago.

Get your stuff together, Sky. Or, at the very least, admit there is a problem and give us updates on the solution. We're paying for sports AND UHD but not receiving either fully. So, I expect at least a partial refund for both since my co tract started up until the point this is resolved.

[Alistair+Burns]

I now prefer games on TNT Sports. I fire up my Google TV Streamer, open the Discovery+ app and get proper Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision with no glitches. If only Sky Stream had an app other than Sky Go with 4K and double Dolby I could puck off. 

[SJHindhouse]

Don't they say 'believe in better'?

I used to have perfect uhd on channel 401 on my stream puck, but now it's getting worse!!

I and many others need to drop sky at contract end.

[Super+Anthony]

Let's hope Sky read these messages or more likely stop ignoring the fact the problem lies with Sky to sort. The fact is they need to take more responsibility and ownership with an issue is theirs to deal with and is nothing to do with our ISP or anything else. It's a cheap product that has been made and is not fit for purpose and this has been mentioned my many on here so not just me

[Dazzasky]

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@LivelyTomato wrote:

I have a single puck which I move between my two TVs. One is an LG Oled where this problem doesn't seem to occur, and the other is a Sony where this problem occurs. That's why I think it has something to do with codec. Since all TVs don't support the same features, they have to choose different codecs depending on what the puck detects the TV as capable of. The puck is not happy with certain codecs or bitrates...

Sky could in theory fix this by adjusting which codecs they use and what bitrates. For example, you can stream YouTube or Netflix or Paramount Plus etc in UHD without issue because they're using parameters that the puck can deal with. 

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Sony and LG will use the same video codec for HLG HDR support on their TV's so your theory is incorrect. 

[LivelyTomato]

My Sony TV is older, and the picture doesn't appear to be in HDR even though the TV claims to support it.

In any case, Sky would know exactly if they're using different codecs. They don't offer a "stats for nerds" feature like YouTube does.

[TimLondon]

Apologies if this has been mentioned already (60+ pages of comments to wade through), but for me, I can reduce, if not totally eliminate the issue by pressing pause and then waiting 30 seconds or so before resuming.  

I have very reliable Gig internet and no issues streaming UHD from other sources or crucially, when watching on demand UHD on the Sky Stream box, so this suggests issue is the box is not getting live broadcast down the line quick enough (so watching with 30 second delay gives more time for platform to keep up).

[LivelyTomato]

Also, there's another encoding process for the HDMI output as well, and that could also be an opportunity for things to go wrong. 

I'm just speculating here since I don't have any inside information. I was just trying to take down the endless suggestion that this is some kind of network issue. When streaming buffers are empty, the video and audio stream drops out, you don't get flawless audio and jittery video.

It seems obvious that the Sky is reprocessing the received streams and in order to mix the audio to add in any system sounds and/or transcode for compatibility with the output. Somewhere along that process, the machine can't keep up, or has a bug in the process that is resulting in periodically jittery video.

It's a bit cheeky to be telling users to troubleshoot irrelevant problems, or sending them new routers or even worse, urging them to upgrade to higher broadband tiers (if that's truly happening).