I assume there will be Freeview boxes at some point (if not already) that'll work with a wideband LNB? Seems an obvious market to cater for the Sky dropouts, no?
*** Sky Q Thread ***
- Thread starter Cosimo
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Soldato
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Not sure to be honest, you can buy a Multiswitch but they are a few hundred quid so I imagine a similiar freeview box wouldn't be cheap.It would be more cost effective to get a hybrid LNB installed ( Official Sky ones are £30 from Amazon ). Mind you in saying that I believe Sky are favouring broadband for SkyQ as of next year so the issue might become irrelevant for most.
Soldato
Until they drop the mutiroom pricing I'm not going near it. I'm not even sure that's legal. It's like being forced into getting 2 mobile phone contracts.
I can't see it being that soon after what I've heard. (and cannot repeat so don't ask!)
For 2 phones? Of course it's legal.
Not legal? They can charge what they like for their services, you are not forced to buy them!
Soldato
The point I'm trying to make is that you can't actually get 4k from sky's 4k service unless you you are practically handcuffed to mutiroom service some people don't want/ need.
Call it a UHD subscription in your head and you'll be happy?
On what planet could an optional service being sold in a certain manner (sky in its entirety) possibly be illegal though?
Yes i dislike the way sky structure their packages, but it is totally their prerogative to do so...
Soldato
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Yeah, I found that annoying too. Pay for UHD and then to be told you don't get HD football, it costs an extra £6 a month. I spoke to retentions about this - how It seems just like another way to squeeze some extra money out of folk , they offered me everything for an extra £10 a month and squeezed extra money out of me.
So their business practice, no matter how you feel about it, ultimately proved to be successful?Yeah, I found that annoying too. Pay for UHD and then to be told you don't get HD football, it costs an extra £6 a month. I spoke to retentions about this - how It seems just like another way to squeeze some extra money out of folk , they offered me everything for an extra £10 a month and squeezed extra money out of me.
Soldato
So had Sky Q installed today, 1TB box downstairs and 1 mini in the bedroom.
Swap over was simple enough using existing cables and ethernet rather than WiFi for the connectivity of the boxes.
Basic operation was fine and all channels that should be there where available on both boxes and recordings downstairs played upstairs no problem.
However as soon as the installer left I started noticing an issue, the sound on the downstairs box would drop out for 1-3 seconds every 2-10 minutes and quickly became annoying. It happened on recordings, SD and HD channels, and with audio set to Dolby or Normal. My Q box is connected to a Sony STR-DN1050 Amp via HDMI - as the previous Sky HD box was.
Tried swapping HDMI cables, power cables, Amp inputs all to no avail. I then tried direct to HDMI on TV and Optical to Amp for sound, but decided to revert before testing properly as I thought, no I am not changing my setup, either they get it to work on this setup or I tell them to take it back and I'll return to Sky HD.
I then decided to test the upstairs box properly to discover that that box not only dropped the sound for 1-3 seconds every 2-10 minutes but also the picture.
Called Sky, who tried some reset thing which made no difference, then the got the installer to call me and I went through the issue with him, he went and called a colleague or suggested I buy a gigabit switch from netgear - when I asked how this would cause the sound to stop on the main box, he went oh actually wait a minute. I have now asked them to swap the main Q box and the installer should be coming back before 5 to do that - and have said if the issues remain to just revert and refund me.
Swap over was simple enough using existing cables and ethernet rather than WiFi for the connectivity of the boxes.
Basic operation was fine and all channels that should be there where available on both boxes and recordings downstairs played upstairs no problem.
However as soon as the installer left I started noticing an issue, the sound on the downstairs box would drop out for 1-3 seconds every 2-10 minutes and quickly became annoying. It happened on recordings, SD and HD channels, and with audio set to Dolby or Normal. My Q box is connected to a Sony STR-DN1050 Amp via HDMI - as the previous Sky HD box was.
Tried swapping HDMI cables, power cables, Amp inputs all to no avail. I then tried direct to HDMI on TV and Optical to Amp for sound, but decided to revert before testing properly as I thought, no I am not changing my setup, either they get it to work on this setup or I tell them to take it back and I'll return to Sky HD.
I then decided to test the upstairs box properly to discover that that box not only dropped the sound for 1-3 seconds every 2-10 minutes but also the picture.
Called Sky, who tried some reset thing which made no difference, then the got the installer to call me and I went through the issue with him, he went and called a colleague or suggested I buy a gigabit switch from netgear - when I asked how this would cause the sound to stop on the main box, he went oh actually wait a minute. I have now asked them to swap the main Q box and the installer should be coming back before 5 to do that - and have said if the issues remain to just revert and refund me.
Soldato
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Just to make you aware the new dish isn't compatible with the old SkyHD box , he'll need to hook that up or attached a hybrid LNB if you choose to revert back.
Soldato
Yeah, I got him to install a hybrid one when he swapped them as I planned to use the old multiroom cables for freesat.
This happened to me with my 1TB box. This is a BIG issue with these boxes. When I had mine installed last year, there was a 74+ page thread, on the actual sky community site, highlighting the issue. It is sporadic, and you can sometimes go an hour or two without it happening, then it'll happen every 10 seconds or so, like you said. The 2TB box DOESN'T do this. So they gave me a 2TB box for free.
See if you can find the thread on sky community or whatever. When I spoke to the customer service lassie she claimed to have never heard about this. I directed her to the thread where there were over 70 pages about it, on their own forum. There are several procedures in the thread you could try, but none of them worked for me. But next time you speak to them, be armed with the info in that thread, state that you have tried all the suggestions, and say that there doesn't seem to be the same issue with the 2TB box. So they either give you a problem free box, or just cancel you. They will hopefully sort you out.
See if you can find the thread on sky community or whatever. When I spoke to the customer service lassie she claimed to have never heard about this. I directed her to the thread where there were over 70 pages about it, on their own forum. There are several procedures in the thread you could try, but none of them worked for me. But next time you speak to them, be armed with the info in that thread, state that you have tried all the suggestions, and say that there doesn't seem to be the same issue with the 2TB box. So they either give you a problem free box, or just cancel you. They will hopefully sort you out.
Soldato
Thanks, yeah that thread seems to be at about 129 pages now!
Installer has been and swapped the box and it happened again less than 5 minutes after being setup, and then he also got to witness the mini box dropping the picture and the sound (which was good).
Only suggestion left was to plug the sky box directly into the TV and then use optical for the sound to the amp - obviously something I have already done and then decided not to follow through on as I shouldn't need to, but I might try it again just to see if it does work that way, otherwise i'll call them on Monday to get them to take it out or give me the 2TB one as you say.
Decided to try connecting directly to the TV and no sound drop outs with the audio whether I send it through the HDMI to the TV and out the TV speakers, or via Optical to the Amp and out it's speakers. I didn't bother trying ARC as my TV can only do Stereo from external on that.
So I could setup to use it that way, but annoyingly I still have the issue with the mini, in that the picture and sound is still dropping out for 1-3 seconds every so often (at least half a dozen times an hour). It's not the HDMI cable (tried 3) and its not the TV input (tried both), so could it be that this mini does just have a faulty HDMI port and I am just really unlucky
Installer has been and swapped the box and it happened again less than 5 minutes after being setup, and then he also got to witness the mini box dropping the picture and the sound (which was good).
Only suggestion left was to plug the sky box directly into the TV and then use optical for the sound to the amp - obviously something I have already done and then decided not to follow through on as I shouldn't need to, but I might try it again just to see if it does work that way, otherwise i'll call them on Monday to get them to take it out or give me the 2TB one as you say.
Decided to try connecting directly to the TV and no sound drop outs with the audio whether I send it through the HDMI to the TV and out the TV speakers, or via Optical to the Amp and out it's speakers. I didn't bother trying ARC as my TV can only do Stereo from external on that.
So I could setup to use it that way, but annoyingly I still have the issue with the mini, in that the picture and sound is still dropping out for 1-3 seconds every so often (at least half a dozen times an hour). It's not the HDMI cable (tried 3) and its not the TV input (tried both), so could it be that this mini does just have a faulty HDMI port and I am just really unlucky
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