Sky Stream - Bluetooth won’t turn on my pucks (voice control works via Bluetooth)

[Mr+P+of+Croydon]

In the short term I think I'll try a discretely placed IR extender next.

[Anonymous]

Is anyone from Sky going to comment @KevNewMedia ?

[Keef1969]

I think Kev is on holiday for a week but I know Sky are looking into this issue (hence the 2 threads being created from 1 - for 2 separate issues).

[Anonymous]

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@Keef1969 wrote:

I think Kev is on holiday for a week but I know Sky are looking into this issue (hence the 2 threads being created from 1 - for 2 separate issues).

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Thanks 🙂

[MarkGoldsmith]

Sky are indeed aware of this particular issue.  The reason they created a separate thread was so they could track this particular issue as they began to realise that this was a different issue to the previous bluetooth not working at all.

When there is any update on a fix, or if they require any more additional information one of the Sky's Community Team will update this thread.

[scoopzuk]

Just replaced Sky Q with Sky Stream. Four pucks delivered so far and another two coming but the inability to power on via Bluetooth from standby is a deal breaker. I was going to return them all and revert to Sky Q (only two days in to stream so far and not returned Q boxes yet) but I was slightly reassured by the two threads that it's not expected behaviour. 

After doing the remote firmware update procedure it did indeed seem to update remote firmware but this morning picks won't turn on via Bluetooth. 

Puck hidden behind Frame TVs in recessed media boxes so IR access isn't possible and all I can do is power off the media box fused spur and back on again to wake them up. 

Hopefully Sky can get a fix soon. 

[Spud132]

@Kelsingra Can you confirm whether or not sky are looking at this issue and if so if there's any update on it?

[scoopzuk]

Update: It looks like turning the puck off and on again doesn't always bring it out of standby. I've been getting the Sky logo on screen and then the puck goes back into sleep/standby and can only be powered on by IR from the remote.  All my pucks are new and IP06.

I know you can use Sky Q remotes with the puck and since I've not returned my Q boxes yet I thought I'd pair a Q remote to test if that can wake the puck via bluetooth. I was hoping you can have multiple bluetooth remotes paired but it only lets you have one paired (the other will still work but by IR only).

I'll test today and tomorrow with just Sky Q remotes paired and if that works and they can wake the puck from standby via bluetooth then at least Sky know it's a remote control issue and not a puck issue and it's a temporary workaround for those affected if they have old Q remotes to hand.

As I'm new to Sky Stream, is this issue something new that has started to affect people who have had a perfectly working system until recently?

[Kelsingra]

Hey all,

Thank you for your patience. 🙂

Our Technical Team is currently investigating the problem and will let you know as soon as we get more updates. 

Please keep me updated if anything changes with your remote.

Thanks,

[scoopzuk]

Hi @Kelsingra I have just tested two of my new pucks paired with the old Sky Q remotes and neither of them will come out of standby via bluetooth and I need to take the TV off the wall and point the IR at the puck to power on and then they work as expected via bluetooth. It looks like this isn't a remote issue and more of a puck issue now? Frustratingly there doesn't appear to be a way to keep the pucks entering standby (I know I know EU regs etc). FYI my pucks are hardwired, wifi disabled, Network Standby Mode On (but I can see from unifi network logs it's dropping connection at sleep), night sleep OFF.

Hope this helps your tech team knowing that both Sky Stream and Sky Q remotes exhibit the same (incorrect) behaviour and will not power on a puck from standby via bluetooth. If they want to DM me to ask me to test anything else let me know, happy to install beta firmware etc if that's an option. 

[Ian131]

Seems to be just an issue with latest puck version IP06 as old IP04 ones still work with bluetooth

[Anonymous]

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@Ian131 wrote:

Seems to be just an issue with latest puck version IP06 as old IP04 ones still work with bluetooth

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Yes, mine are IP06. 

[scoopzuk]

If anybody else like me has the pucks hidden and not easily accessible and is struggling to power on via bluetooth then I've got a (somewhat janky) workaround but it will require you to have the Network Standby setting turned on so the network card in the puck is always listening. 

You can wake the puck from your iPhone (and I'm sure Android will have similar apps) using a free WakeOnLan app. You would need to have a smartphone on the same wifi network as the sky puck and then use the app to send a simple "ping" to the puck to wake it up and then once it's awake the remote will work as expected via bluetooth.

I just searched the app store for "wakeonlan" and tried a few difference apps and this one is free and basic but works

The caveat is that you will need to have your puck powered on initially to be able to access the System>System Managment>System Info page and grab the unique MAC address of your puck, you might find these are also printed on the box if you still have it.

There will be two MAC addresses shown in this format XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX one is for the WiFi card and one is for the Ethernet card.

You simply launch the Wake On Lan App and click to add a new device, give it a friendly name so you know which puck it is and then carefull type in the MAC address. (HINT: on most modern smartphones, if you take a photo of the system screen showing the MAC address it will then detect text and let you copy and paste it to save you typing it out). You should then have something like this below and simply tapping on the name "sky puck family diner" in my example, it will send a magic packet to the sky puck and power it on. 

There's one last step you should probably take, and that is to temporarily disable the HDMI control in the sky puck settings>Starup and Standby>HDMI Control>OFF. If you have this on and you send a magic packet to wake up the puck it will auto-power on the TV. Chances are you already have the TV on anyway trying to watch sky so no problem there, but if you have TVs in kids bedrooms and you accidentally tapped to wake up a puck in their bedroom, it could turn on their TV and wake them up....ask me how I know.

Right so that's a terrible tutorial on a terrible workaround to get your hidden sky pucks out of standby whilst there's an ongoing issue with bluetooth not working in standby. I have set this app up on mine and my wife's iPhone's so now we can power on the pucks without having to lift the TV off the wall.

Another less technical temporary fix would be to buy a cheap £8 InfraRed extender and have a little IR eye/receiver sitting below the TV which repeats the IR signal to the hidden puck.

Another more technical temporary fix would be to run a script on a server or home automation system to send a magic WakeOnLan packet to all pucks every 5 mins to ensure they never go to sleep.

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Moderator note: Removed third party link.

[Anonymous]

Didn't work for me. I had tried it before from another thread. Might well be the BT router not allowing broadcast. 

[scoopzuk]

Hi @Kelsingra - is it too soon for the Technical Team to confirm if this is hardware or firmware related? I'm happy using my WakeOnLan app for a while but I'm not sure whether I should be calling Sky to reject all four Sky Stream pucks received so far as I'm still in the 30-day cool off period? I don't want to waste time reporting the issue to somebody on the phone who is going to run through the basics, turn it off/on, repair, etc when I've done all that and it seems to only be recenlty manufactured pucks that are affected.

Ideally I'd like to get it fixed over the air with a firmware update but if that's going to be a while away, could somebody at Sky who is knowledgeable on the issue connect with me directly and perhaps arrange to ship out replacement IP04 which aren't affected?