Intermittent picture pixelation and sound problems.

[Matthew161]

Hello, i've recently moved to EE TV after twenty plus years with Sky and i'm having a couple of problems that I hope can be fixed.

We have the EE TV Box Pro and a Mini, and both are showing the same problems. Both boxes are in internet mode and are connected by ethernet cable to the provided EE Smart Hub Plus router. We have had no problems with the internet connection, and are receiving the 300Mbps we are paying for.

First Problem - We are getting intermittent pixelating of the picture and a drop out of sound that lasts for just a second or two and then goes back to normal. Sometimes this doesn't happen for a while, then it will happen every ten minutes or so. 

I haven't personally used the TV service as much as others in the house as I mainly use it for the football and other sports, but yesterday I watched the Charity Shield on ITV and some of the Olympics on the BBC and it was happening on both channels. I then watched a League One football match on Sky Sports and MMA on TNT Sports through the box and didn't notice it on either. Small sample size but I thought i'd mention it.

The Second Problem - This may be linked to the first problem and is harder to explain. As a gamer, it sort of seems like when you get a momentary drop of frame rate, but it's a bit different to that, and is at it's most obvious when watching the football. For example, I didn't notice it much yesterday during the 90 minutes, but during every penalty in the penalty shoot out it was very apparent, i'll try to explain it better. In the player's run up it sort of seems to slow down on/around him where your eyes are focused but you still see the full penalty. Like I said, hard to explain.

Both these problems are happening on both boxes and they are both there in the same place when I rewind the box.

I tried to have a look around to see if I could solve these problems without having to make a thread, but most people who are having similar problems were using aerial mode and/or a wifi connection, which we are using neither.

I also haven't contacted EE yet, as having a look around some threads on here there seems to be some knowledgeable people who may know what the problem could be, @DarrenDev was a name in particular that kept cropping up, and he seems to have inside knowledge and know what he's talking about 😀.

Thanks.

[CHLOEBAGPUSS]

I totally agree

Sent from Outlook for iOS<>

[Katie_B · Accepted solution]

Hi @scottiejambo  @TheGreys. 

If you continue to see this, I'd recommend giving us a call and speaking with our tech team who can complete a full diagnostics. 

Please be sure to keep us posted here on the community following your call.

Katie

[TheGreys]

Hi Katie. I believe my wife has done this today. We've received a link for me to get in touch with you when I'm back from work to see if we can fix things. Will update soon 👍🏾

[jonsharpe]

Exactly the same issue here. Fibre broadband, with repeaters (Netboost Pro) throughout the house. The only issue is experienced through the EE TV Box. We also switched from SkyQ as it is much cheaper. But, there's clearly a problem with the code (middleware?) on the TV box that requires fixing by EE. With 150mb speeds throughout the house, this is unlikely to be a wifi issue.

[scottiejambo]

Maybe instead of EE asking customers to call them using a woefully understaffed contact method, they could read these posts, accept there a problem, and actually admit there’s an issue and confirm that they are actively working on a fix.

[Midnight_Voice]

@scottiejambo 

They are actively working on bringing Now in UHD to the customer base.

But not on any timeframe that would be acceptable for problem fixing 😢

[TheGreys]

My wife spoke to EE. They asked her to do all the things we had already done (unplug from the box on the wall, reboot etc). She cannot do that when alone as she is wheelchair bound. So EE sent a link for us to use when I get back from working away - instead of us waiting in a call queue, it prompts a call to us from EE.

Strangely, my wife said that the issue has improved massively the past couple of days - but replaced with another. We seem to have lost some channels - in particular, the +1 channels. Why do you think this is?? And as reported by someone else on this thread, recordings are bookmarks that take us to the streaming apps, and we can't FF or RW adverts. What is that about?! We record for this reason. Else we'd not bother recording and just watch from the app in the first place. Also, when watching from an app, it freezes and won't play again. Sometimes it's just a black screen. She had to come out of the app and go back in again. I will check it out for myself when I return on Thursday.

But at this stage with the difficulties and restrictions, it feels kind of pointless having EETV. We only have the basic package, so given we have smart TVs with more than 800 free to view channels, we would likely be better off just buying a box that we can record on and no subscription to pay. Is anyone else encountering this issue at all?

And has anyone else found that the pixelating/freezing has randomly improved?

Thanks!

[Midnight_Voice]

@TheGreys 

Losing the +1 channels suggests a reset and retune of a Box Pro after unplugging the aerial, but you might have noticed yourself doing that. Box Minis have never had the +1 channels.

Recordings are only bookmarks on the BBC iPlayer, and you can’t fast forward the adverts on Itv channels, but both these things only apply to Box Pros in IP Mode; there are no such restrictions in Aerial Mode.

Which Mode are you running in?

If you drop EETV and buy your own recording box, you won’t be able to watch or record the live channels from 300-600 in your EPG. But with separate subscriptions to Now, TNT, Discovery+ and Netflix (according to which of these you have in your EETV plan) you will be able to watch these, live or not, in their corresponding apps.

If you don’t have a TV aerial, then no recording box will suit you. If you do, though, then you have the choice of the Manhattan T4 new, or a YouView box from eBay or CeX, where I would recommend  a Box Pro or a DTR-T4000, but nothing earlier (lower numbered).

A Box Mini Is no good at all to you without EETV.

[JonnyTu]

Hi, we have the same pixelating issue, who shall we call as we’ve had an engineer out who tested the broadband and said it’s fine, we’re hard wired and when we call a system reset is performed, we lose all our recordings and nothing changes. Had EE TV for 2 months and problems persist, had BT before with no issues.  We connect via internet not aerial.

[Midnight_Voice]

@JonnyTu 

Ask to revert to BT. Their Community is an oasis of calm compared to the howling gale in here.

BT and EE may be the same company, but it’s just like the way Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are the same man 😢