topic Tv Pro box pixilating in TV

Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 20:10:18 GMT

Hi Folks, we have 1Gb broadband a TV Pro box and 2 mini boxes. All has been good until a few days ago when the Pro box started pixilating on mainly BBC, other channels only slightly and not at all on streaming from Netflix, Now, firestick, Amazon etc. The mini boxes are both OK. The Probox is connected via an extender due to there being 3 walls between it and the router. The room where it is situated does get 100Mb but we had issues when we first got the box and EE supplied the extenders which have, up to now, been good.

I have rebooted the Pro box and the router but no improvement. Any thoughts?

Thanks

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

Matt_124 — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 22:17:19 GMT

Are you using your TV Box Pro in Aerial Mode or Internet Mode?

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

Profile closed — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 22:37:14 GMT

@remodot

Can you define ‘extender’? Is it WiFi or a powerline adapter?

With 1GB speeds, bandwidth isn’t going to be an issue, more likely interference that only affects the multicast channels delivered via the TV Guide.

Apps like Netflix use unicast, so it is a red herring when they work fine as they can buffer and deal with dropped packets of data which multicast channels struggle with.

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 22:49:19 GMT

BBC iPlayer, ITV X etc ask work fine as well.

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 22:50:20 GMT

Internet mode

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 22:52:28 GMT

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. It's Internet mode. I've tried without and with powering plugged in but much the same but a bit better with ethernet cable plugged in.

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 22:55:39 GMT

Hi, It's the powerline plugs which EE supplied when we had similar problems at the start. Until a few days ago it's been fine since the install fixes last May.

I have 3 Smart WFi Discs for the rings upstairs, it's a large house with bricks internal walls.

Thanks

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

Profile closed — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 02:28:11 GMT

@remodot

Thought as much.

Powerline can be a good solution but it doesn’t take much for interference to corrupt the signal.

It is a bit trial and error to fix from here, because if it was working fine before it means something you have plugged in recently is causing interference and needs to be removed from the chain.

This could be anything plugged in on the same electrical circuit like a fridge or Christmas lights that turn on and off.

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 08:17:32 GMT

Thanks I think iyou might have maybe found the problem. I have Sonos
surround system in the same room as the Pro box, have had it for around 5
years with no issues. Last week I upgraded the sound bar to a new more upto
date bar with more functionality, I went from a Beam to an Arc if that
helps.

I'll switch that off to see if it improves. I hope it isn't that as the
sound is great and it was expensive!!!
Thanks

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 09:16:03 GMT

I unplugged the new sound bar and it seems to be sorted, I say seems as I only watched about 10 minutes of tv with no issues. I plugged it back in and the pixilation returned albeit not as bad as it was last night. I then unplugged the ethernet cable from the Pro box connecting to the powerline, soundbar plugged in and working. This seems to be working (when we first switched from Sky to EE this was a problem). I'll leave it like this for a bit to see how stable it is.

If that doesnt work the mini box in our bedroom is plugged into a WiFI smart disc, I'm thinking I'll swap the disc from there to the Pro box and place the powerline in the bedroom as we tend to watch streaming channels on the tv in the bedroom.

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

Profile closed — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 09:47:24 GMT

@remodot

Bingo!

It can be solved, just needs a play and some swapping around as you say.

If you can move a disc, try connecting the TV Box Pro to the Ethernet port on the back and let the Sonos use WiFi.

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 10:04:32 GMT

Hi again,

Afraid there is sill some pixilating occasionally, not nearly as bad. The
Sonos has always used WiFi, that is it has never used an ethernet cable.
Could it be the Cat 5e cable supplied by EE? Should I try and a Cat 6 cable?
Standing next to the tv I am only getting 43Gb speed, the disc is solid
Aqua. I feel a call to EE coming. We had around 6 weeks and 7+ hours on the
phone plus 2 engineer visits before it was fixed then.

Thanks

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

Profile closed — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 10:32:27 GMT

@remodot

Nothing wrong with checking and changing cables as part of the process, but I would firstly take the Sonos out of the equation for a decent amount of time (hours not minutes), to see if that is definitely the culprit, as it might not be, or might only be part of the problem.

Ultimately, it could be anything, a failing cable, interference on the electrical circuit, WiFi interference, a box problem or a combination and all will need checking as part of the process.

For example, if you swap the TV Box Pro for another (or a mini), do you still get the pixelation?

Be systematic, change things slowly, test for a decent amount of time and then move on if it doesn’t work still.

Good luck 🤞🏻

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 13:09:40 GMT

Hi, I have tried every conceivable combination with pro box and mini box and best seems to be removing the powerline. The mini boxes were also pixilating in the other rooms, I'd not checked them properly until this morning as we hardly use those rooms. Still some pixilating but not much. Is it worth resetting the router? I've rebooted the pro box, the mini boxes and the router. If I reset the router will I need to reconnect all my appliances again entering the password etc?
If no improvement tomorrow I'll call EE.
Thanks for your help and advise.

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

Profile closed — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 13:44:23 GMT

@remodot

You can try a router reset, nothing ventured and all that, but you might want to wait until you have contacted EE as they may make you run through steps like that anyway before booking an engineer.

My gut feeling is that, in a home of the size described, you are either going to have to invest in a proper mesh system (i.e. not ISP supplied kit), or even some proper network cabling where possible.

Otherwise you might need to even think about trying Sky Stream, which uses unicast for live TV, the same delivery method as the apps you don’t have problems with.

The only EE TV device that supports that is the Apple TV 4K they supply, of which you can only get one sadly.

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 13:41:32 GMT

Thanks for all your help. I'll let you know how it get on.

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 08:25:41 GMT

Hi Again, I was looking at Apple TV+ but a bit confused. Am I right in thinking Apple TV+ is an Spp where as Apple TV is the Apple box? I also saw that Apple TV + can be shared amongst 5 family members. If that's the case can the App be installed on the Pro Box, the Min boxes and the other 2 licences on to tablets or phones?

I'd just like some info before I call EE incase this is the fix they suggest.

Thanks

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

Profile closed — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 08:45:45 GMT

@remodot Apple TV 4K is the hardware, Apple TV is the app, Apple TV+ is a subscription service.

A version of the Apple TV app which provides the Apple TV+ service is already on the TV Box Pro, but it is not the fully featured version seen on the Apple TV 4K which manages your viewing across a number of apps.

If you have a ‘Family sharing’ group set up with Apple, up to 5 people in that group can share a single Apple TV+ subscription.

None of the above is going to solve your current issue as EE will only supply you with one Apple TV 4K. You need to focus on getting EE to help you diagnose the interference that is causing live TV channels to pixelate.

Your broadband speed is fine, the WiFi speed is fine, it is the quality that is affecting (and only affecting), the multicast delivered live TV channels.

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 08:57:38 GMT

I called EE and they see a fault in the line which would effect tv signal, engineer is coming out on Thursday.

Re: Tv Pro box pixilating

remodot — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 15:23:15 GMT

Hi, the EE engineer vans this morning and seems to have sorted the problem. He firstly reset some settings on the router. One was that the router was only using WiFi 6 he has set it to operate both WiFi 5 & WiFi 6, he explained it all to me consuderibg all the appliences. I think he might of made other change which I've didn't understand. This seemed to fix the probe but we will see over the the next few days. Following these changes the WiFi speed has increased a bit.

Thanks again for all your help.