Why is channel 4 breaking up on SKY? UK only

I have sky (freeview as too mean to get a package) and for the past few weeks channel 4 and its sister channels more 4 plus 4 etc have had picture problems .When watching every so often the screen will get a little blocky like the signal has not been received properly.I have filmed my screen and posted a video of the problem below.It does it once at the beginning at 8 secs of the clip and once just before the end , a kind of blockey interference. Now I had thought it might be my sky box however after visiting my father over Christmas who lives in another town 20 miles away(i live in Kent UK) was surprised to see he has the exact same problem on his sky.Here is the weird bit I also have a Freesat box that goes to my sky dish so I switch between the two to watch BBC HD ,channel 4 is fine when using the freesat Humax receiver.So what is up with the sky signal.I am guessing both Freesat and sky are using the same satellite.Is anybody else experiencing these problems. Is it an alien fleet blocking the signal.



and a short video of screen shots of the problem.



[edit on 4-1-2010 by tarifa37]

hello there,

i am in Central Portugal using a sky + box and a 2.1 m dish .....never had any probs ...but now all the ch4 channels are doing the same as you have experienced.

strange...

snoopyuk

[edit on 4-1-2010 by snoopyuk]

if you have a home hub or cordless phone near your box this will do that to the picture some times i had the same problems till i moved my home hub and phone

hope that helps
bye

Cant help but think its all to ensure that we all go out and spend money on the 'new HD' TV's, I may be wrong and I probably am but I'm wondering if they are deleberatley tampering with the current picture quality, ( i.e damping DOWN) so when the 'digital' age kicks in next year? this year? they can simply turn the quality back up and hey presto HD TV and we've all gone an invested in new TV's and video equipment.
Maybe I should leave ATS for a while, I'm seeing conspiracies everywhere.

Originally posted by digby888
if you have a home hub or cordless phone near your box this will do that to the picture some times i had the same problems till i moved my home hub and phone

hope that helps
bye

Nothing new near the tv been working fine for years plus doing it on my fathers set as well from the same time.In Fact I was relieved it was happening on his box as did not want to fork out for a new sky box. As I said no problems with the Humax freesat box but I hate using that box as sky is sooo much easier to use.The freesat box only gets used for the BBC HD which is superb btw.

Originally posted by snoopyuk
hello there,

i am in Central Portugal using a sky + box and a 2.1 m dish .....never had any probs ...but now all the ch4 channels are doing the same as you have experienced.

strange...

snoopyuk

[edit on 4-1-2010 by snoopyuk]

That is very interesting as my father bought his box in Majorca (he used to live there) and brought it back with him.I think he used it with a UK card,naughty boy.

Ummmmm... have you bothered to contact your service provider? That would appear to be the most logical course of action as opposed to posting on a conspiracy forum.

IRM

reply to post by tarifa37


i have heard that frosty and snowy weather can some times afect it could it be that

it is really quite simple - digital tv signals are sent as " packets " - like any digital transmission

however unlike packets sent to your computer - there is no error checking - and no resend

if a packet arrives corroputed or unreadable - its displayed incorrectly on your screen - and you notice

atmospheric conditions cause interference - as does other household electrical equipment

i personally notice interference on most of my freeview [ terrestrial ] channels occasionaly

if the chanel 4 transmission in your area is the only one affected or the worst affected - it could be that its a fault / persistant interference on the uplink from chenel 4

now whether thats due to incopetance or deliberate ` dumbing down ` is another question

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
Ummmmm... have you bothered to contact your service provider? That would appear to be the most logical course of action as opposed to posting on a conspiracy forum.

IRM

Where is the fun in that. Also have you ever phoned sky before? I would rather stick pins under my finger nails. Furthermore I am curious to see if it is a wide spread problem and could there be a conspiracy angle to it.



[edit on 4-1-2010 by tarifa37]

Originally posted by digby888
reply to post by tarifa37

 

i have heard that frosty and snowy weather can some times afect it could it be that

Thanks, but has been doing it for weeks regardless of weather.Also remember the picture is fine when I switch over to the Humax Freesat box which is on the same sat dish .

just to add , im in sydney and have about 40 digital channels, and you wouldnt believe it!!!

Channel 4 is distorted like a train wreck

Originally posted by scubagravy
just to add , im in sydney and have about 40 digital channels, and you wouldnt believe it!!!

Channel 4 is distorted like a train wreck

Sorry to be dumb but is that the UK Channel 4 or an Australian equivalent?

Is anyone else in the UK experiencing the same or is your channel 4 signal with SKY perfect?

I must add, all other channels are good just channel 4 ,more 4, film 4 ,4plus 1 etc. And only on sky box, freesat working perfect with channel 4 on the same satellite dish.

[edit on 4-1-2010 by tarifa37]

reply to post by tarifa37


Not dumb at all, i should have been more specific.....it would be an australian channel.

I am not the only one having problems. www.digitalspy.com...

Old 12-12-2009, 12:11 #1
muddypays
Forum Member

Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: New Ash Green N.Kent
Services: Sky, Freesat SD/ HD, Cable. Sony 5.1
Posts: 269

ITV Channel 4 pixillating
I have noticed over the last week or so that Ch. 4 has been breaking up slightly and intermittently during late afternoon.
Particularly during 'Deal or no Deal'.
No other channels are affected.
With clear skies.
I have 100% signal and 95% quality into an oldish Pace box.
Anyone else experiencing this?

Yes same for me here in Essex with More 4 this weekend on my Pace box, and channel 4 last weekend on an Thomson box. No other channels seem to be affected.

bendigit
Forum Member


It's happening on all my Ch4 and ITV channels. I can't believe it's anything to do with either my box or my hi fi, given that it used to be OK, and what's been said here.
bendigit is offline

i had this on more 4 ( at least) last week on a thompson box
the skyman



Me too, began to think it maybe an iffy box, but maybe not, and of course when you record a channel it records the break up too!
swills is offline


Same here, the channel 4 picture breaks up - deep reds are vibrating etc. It's just an abysmal picture - it's almost like they've halved the bandwidth or something.




All fta versions of Channel 4 are fine , so its something at your end.

The UK versions use 10714H which is the lowest frequency in use at 28E, so problems may be caused by a lnb going out of tolerance or a box with a tuner thats starting to fail.

No this is definitely a broadcast issue, it occurs before shot changes on both E4, Channel4 and possibly More4. My guess is they are either using new video encoders, with poorer shot detection. Or possibly reducing the bitrate to fit in E4 HD.

Posts: 16

Noticed this myself too!

It is doing it on both my sky boxes(sky HD and sky plus)

only started happening in the last few weeks.

It is as bad as ITV used to be

Also noticed this, very bizzare, not like a normal picture breakup, but more of a slight stutter, as though the frame rate was not constant.

I normally get the SE regional version of C4 but switching to 994 (C4 London) the picture was ok.

[edit on 4-1-2010 by tarifa37]

Sky Freesat here and an ancient set top box - no problems.
Apart from when there is really bad weather!

I've got a sky and a freesat box hooked up to a sky minidish and I have no problems with channel 4..and I'm in Holland BTW.

reply to post by unicorn1


Thanks for that,I am not sure where you are from but going on www.digitalspy.com... it may bizarrely just be a problem in the Kent area.
(Going back to work will catch up on smart phone later.)


[edit on 4-1-2010 by tarifa37]

Can't believe my thread got moved here because it is meant to be conspiracy tnread. The conspiercy allegedly being are channel 4 trying to entice people to their new hd service by degrading their sky signal.

reply to post by tarifa37


Or maybe you could just reposition your aerial!

I lived in a place once right by a busy road, certain poorly shielded trucks would give me much worse digital interference than that!... Mostly only on certain groups of channels... Maybe look at a better aerial, terrestrial and digital ones are slightly different... Maybe a signal booster? But get a variable one cos you can give it too much power... You prob don't need a booster.

You tried re tuning your box? The channels may of drifted.