Sky Stream Picture/Sound freezing and buffering

[StrMull36]

First time on Sky Community, hoping that I'd get some further suggestions on how to solve this very annoying problem. However, notice that 3 other users on this forum (all from mid/late January this year) with similar problems on Sky Stream have received no replies, so not at this moment holding out much hope of help from Sky Stream technical input.  Basically, I have exhausted all of the help topics and suggestions available from the Sky app "Get Help" pages, both for sound and picture problems. But at present, performance is intermittent and unreliable across a range of channels and Apps. Thought I'd never say this, but beginning  - slightly - to regret moving from Virgin to Sky.

PS - WiFi signal is excellent throughout my house, and ethernet is not an option as hub is upstairs and puck is downstairs with main TV.

[Tim+Adams · Accepted solution]

Hi @StrMull36 

As you've already said the Stream is using WiFi, the first bit of advice is to test on ethernet but as you've said that's not possible due to hub location. Consider getting powerline adapters and then turning off the WiFi on Stream.

The WiFi on Stream is extremely variable and even at my home I can turn WiFi on and have full signal everywhere yet Stream will work fine for say 10 mins then start showing the "please wait for your program to load" or buffer / drop out but as soon I turn WiFi off and put ethernet in the issues never appear.

I know the above isn't a gaurenteed solution but a way to test is if you have a TV near the hub that you could temporarily plug Stream into and use ethernet?

Thanks,

Tim

[Stuart-GM]

I moved to Sky stream from Virgin, I like Stream but it is a bit buggy, hopefully it will be better after more updates but if you've just joined you can cancel in the first 31 days. I can only advise what I've done and  replace my old Ethernet cable with a new cat8 cable, its running better now for me. If you're experiencing dropouts or pictures breaking up I would pause the stream for 10 seconds then play it so it's running slightly behind live tv, this seems to help . I watch Netflix through and it works perfectly so I can only assume it's a Sky issue and not my broadband.

[Gedofwinefame]

Just to add that my Sky Stream will also only work in UHD off the playlist, or as you say, when running slightly behind 'live'. I have a wired connection and a consistent 56mb/sec measured on the TV.

[444steve]

I'm in a very similar situation-buyers regret within a few days. I used my virgin broadband with sky streaming puck for a week with no problems other than generally slow for all remote commands. I had sky broadband installed a few days ago. My router is in an adjacent room to my TV so I bought powerline extenders at the recommendation of the Openreach engineer. My pucks are therefore connected with Ethernet but I'm experiencing exactly the same problems of picture freezing & sound drop off, not always simultaneously. Seriously thinking of returning to Virgin & challenging the 18 month contract as I am not receiving the service I purchased.

[DJZ]

I have the same issue re: freezing when watching live tv. i have full fibre (not Sky) at >250Mbps speeds

Its incredibly frustrating. wish i had kept my Sky HD (I went via Sky Q but that was not great either for distant rooms even when connected via Ethernet).

would love any ideas / suggestions beyond the help guide to fix it. watching stuff, especailly live sport delayed is a terrible experience with phone notifications etc....

[Martinguy25]

Hi @Tim+Adams Tim, I can confirm that I too have this issue.  I had it when I first got Sky stream and was on a 4g network.  I assumed that was the cause and was excitied to finally see it improve when i got fibre installed.  Now have over 450gb broadband.  I've tried 2,4g, 5ghz wifi and also tried ethernet, but i still have this problem where the sound and picture keep pausing.  I've turned of UHD and still have the issu.  

Can this be esculated to Sky tech support?

[444steve]

Sky genuinely don't care whatsoever about these issues. They think they have re-engineered their stream service to be just like Netflix, whereas in reality they have launched an unreliable beta test version of something that might be ok in a couple of years. During a very long call with Sky they acknowledged the problems that I had and offered a switch to SkyQ - the problem was that they had to disconnect my stream service before being able to tell me how much SkyQ would cost & when it could be installed. Unbelievable!

[electricmonk]

I have the same issues with two Sky Stream pucks when viewing programmes streamed by Sky.

I have two smart TVs and an Apple TV 4k. I do not have any issues streaming non Sky Stream programmes  on these devices, from Netflix, Apple TV+, Prime, iPlayer, Paramount, Disney, ITV, C4, C5 etc..

I have a nominal 330 Mbps FTP connection, measures 301.5 Mbps,,  which connects to all devices using a CAT 6 gigabit network.  

Example from this morning trying to watch True Detective S4 ep 2 in UHD HDR.

Screen freezes and displays "Please wait for your programmes to load".

It happened several times, but here are two examples.

Nothing then happens. To restart one has to go 'Home / Playlist / continue watching'.

This indicates to me that there is one or both of these issues. Buffering within the Sky Stream Puck or Sky Stream server capacity overload.

It would also seem that Sky are aware of the issue, as the software sometimes changes the settings from 2160 to 1080 all by itself.

[444steve]

This is a daily occurrence. The product is terrible and has so many flaws it should never have made it past beta testing. I'm just waiting to cancel the moment my too long contract expires 

[electricmonk]

Update on my previous comment of 22 January, after three months.

Sky Stream continues with the stream hesitating, freezing with a blue screen, freezing with "please wait for programme to load", freezing with "there is a technical problem with this programme".

Freezing can be overridden by restarting the programme.

Directed by live conversations with Sky support, resetting to factory within settings, and reinstalling puck by turning off power and then returning power with button held down on underside of puck IP04SK523100482F4 has not worked.

Sky's seeming scripted default position seems to be that, because I do not have Sky Broadband, the problem is my broadband, and they will not accept that the puck might be faulty.

The fact that I can stream UHD HDR and Dolby Vision to other devices connected to the same CAT 6 network means nothing to Sky.

Sky refused to consider my suggestion to send a new puck.

For those interested the devices that work fine are;

Apple TV4K

Sony A9 UHD HDR Dolby vision Smart TV

LG UHD HDR TV

iMac M3 5K

[lettice]

@electricmonk 

Who is your isp and router and/or mesh local network setup?

See you are currently running off ethernet.

Assume. You have turned wifi off and and have Network standby On within the puck settings.

Also on that, having made that change you remove the puck from power or turn off the socket for a few minutes, so that the options get forced correctly.

Did notice on network tests I did that even turning wifi off, it was still active until the puck was re powered.

Have you tried an ethernet cable from puck direct to router, avoiding any unmanaged network switch. Just to make sure the network switch with the puck is not causing any problems, it has been known.

Also, might be worth, removing ethernet and connecting via wifi, to see if the puck connects.

I run my pucks now on wifi without issue, having for a week connected in wifi.

I'm on Sky broadband Ultrafast+ (500 Mbps), all devices connected at the point and pucks own Netflix speed test showing 290-330 Mbps on wifi.

[electricmonk]

@lettice 

ISP is WebMate.  Been with them since 2001.

https://webmate.me/webmate-story/

Their servers run on the BT Openreach network, the same network that Sky use.

It is a Gigabit network but my service is capped at 330 Mbps down 50 Mbps up.

Steady actual connection at 303 Mbps down 48 Mbps up.

See attached Sony A9 TV screenshot showing test run using Speedtest app on Apple TV4K.

WiFi is not active on Sky Pucks as they are both connected to Cat 6 network.

Nor relevent, but my WiFi is Linksys WiFi 6 Tri band gigabit Mesh network.

Network switches are Netgear Prosafe GS108 gigabit switches which have no issues.

If there were issues with the network the other devices would have the same problems as the Puck.

The previous Sky Q UHD box also ran perfectly well connected to the same network, in the same position, connected with the same patch cable as the Sky Stream Puck.

Hard wired is always preferable to WiFi, as it is less likely to have problems. Ask any IT professional.

The problem is with the puck hardware when running Sky channels. It is worst when running UHD HDR.

The other possibilty would be Sky channel server capacity. Perhaps that is why Sky won't change the puck, but will not admit upstream problems. That might also be why the Puck changes the settings from 2160 to 1080i on each restart.

[DJZ]

update from my prior post: issues largely resolved other than that the stream is behind "live" tv which is annoying for football scores etc. not much that can be done about that.

I had a call with Sky and did a few things that i think have made the difference. 

1) reset to factory settings and then reset-up the 2 pucks that had issues (one was wifi and one ethernet)

2) for the wifi one i fixed the IP address with the router (Deco) and also using router settings made it "high priority" and fixed the ghz setting (i think to 2.4 but either way so that it wasnt on auto, but fixed).

since then, i have not had a single re-occurrence of the "waiting to load" (been more than 6 weeks)

[lettice]

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@electricmonk wrote:

@lettice 

ISP is WebMate.  Been with them since 2001.

---

Must admit I have not heard of them, but there are many ISPs these days.

My question for that, was that many altnet ISPs do cause Sky problems with their networks and especially with their WAN IPs cg-Nat use being lapse/unreliable/blocked at times  and reporting non UK IPs. We have referred some altnet IP stacks to Sky for checking when we think that is the case. But in your case, being on the Openreach network that would most probably not be the case I think in this instant.

See your speed, but it would be good to go into Netflix via the puck ( you do not need a Netflix logged in account) and running the Netflix speed test under Get help, just to be sure it's picking up the desired speed.

Just because other devices on your switch work fine, it does not guarantee that all devices work ( even if using your previous Sky Q was). Just trying to  eliminate  a possible glitch.

Your switch being unmanaged is good, as Sky kit has been troublesome with managed switches in the past. 
I am familiar with that switch and it is not known to  not cause any issues with Sky kit that I am aware of.

My mention of wifi, is just to try it as a temporary test to  see if it could provide any insight into if the puck may be faulty somehow, hardware or firmware.