Very strange technical issue
 

Hi all since October one of my tivos (the bedroom outlet) has been suffering from the occasional glitch.

The glitch consists of pixelating for a second or two on occasions it is mainly on recordings. However it is very intermittent and it perhaps only affects one program a day regardless of channel.

The other Tivo is not affected.

Virgin are stumped to what the cause is as since October they have checked signal levels repeatedly, swapped the box, renewed the external cable to the affected box and now renewed the internal cable to the bedroom to and it is still having the same problem. They say networks have checked the cabinet repeatedly to and they dont know what else to do.

I am perplexed as what the cause could be.

Anyone have any ideas please.

Re: very strange technical issue
 

I woukd swap the boxes round to see if it still occurs on the same box, if so its a hardware issue

Re: very strange technical issue
 

Hi jb66 Virgin replaced the original box the issue was with and the replacement box has the same issue I think it may be a Virgin tv issue more than tivo issue im not sure it is very strange and the technicians are stumped as they have swapped the box, checked signal levels and replaced internal and external cabling and yet the fault still manifests and they say the cabinet is ok to

Re: very strange technical issue
 

Is it happening when you have back-to-back recordings set on the same channel? If so, it's a known software fault. You might be able to avoid it happening by changing one of the series to an alternative version of the channel. For example, if you have back to back recordings on channel 103, change one of them to use 113, 114 or 853 instead. Or maybe pick up a repeat showing on ITV2.

Re: very strange technical issue
 

hi spiderplant sometimes it happens back to back but it also happens on non back to back recordings another poster has suggested it might be something in my house causing it to happen. The only things that have changed from before the fault is I replaced my tv and now have a now tv box connected so I am now wondering if one of these may be the problem.

Re: very strange technical issue
 

Be aware that Suggestions may also count as back-to-back recordings. The fact that it started in October would also point at this bug, as it was introduced by a software update around then.

Whereabouts are you? I can check the exact date you got the update.

It's an interesting theory. The TV is most likely. Try connecting it using SCART instead of HDMI for a few days, and see if the problem goes away.

Re: very strange technical issue
 

There could be something local causing electrical interference or SNR on the cable.. I used to have a issue when my central heating turned on, the picture pixelated for a few minutes.. Only seemed to happen as it switched on and took me a good while to work out what it was. Easily fixed by putting better quality cable in. Although it wasn't official virgin cable to start off with, once replaced with virgins it was fine. Although this doesn't explain why it would only happen on recording. :/

Re: very strange technical issue
 

Hi mr lemming it does happen on live tv to not just recordings I have checked the heating and it is not to blame still as puzzled as ever as to what the cause is. someone has suggested it could be over utilisation whatever that is?

Re: very strange technical issue
 

They are wrong. They are talking about broadband utilisation, but can have no effect on broadcast TV as they are totally separate.

Re: very strange technical issue
 

So why are people having an issue with the TV picture pixelating only after 4-5pm till around midnight?

Re: very strange technical issue
 

When I go to open my recorder unit on my P C, it sometimes sticks, I can copy a cd onto my P C but when I put a blank tape in to record, it just makes a clicking noise. I know the blank CDs are not faulty, any ideas please,

Re: very strange technical issue
 

Here are some possible reasons:
1) That's when they have the central heating on
2) That's when they have the lights on
3) Their neighbours have a TV connected directly to the cable, and it sends noise up the cable when they are watching TV
4) Some other source of noise that is only present in evening
5) The signal level changes when the temperature drops at night
6) It actually does it all the time, but they only notice in the evening when watching properly instead of having the TV on in the background

Re: very strange technical issue
 

Hmm, could be what i'm thinking then.. Although the cable virgin uses is pretty good and should block out any weird jumps in noise or interference (providing all the connections have been put on properly and tightened up, check yourself with a spanner or pliers if they are tight). If all the cables have been changed I cant see it being this. Id swap your box's around for a few days and see if the fault persists in the same room or the other, along with try and work out if it matches up with anything else that gets turned on. If you see it on a recording you would be thinking about the time which it was recorded not the time your watching it. Although it could be something of your neighbours causing the issue meaning you don't have a chance of working it out…

You hear or many strange and weird things causing these errors.. take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal-to-noise_ratio for more info.. But such things as energy saving light bulbs, cordless landlines, christmas lights, microwaves are to name a few.

A very unlikely issue but nether the less possible is theres a small jump in power from the mains which causes the box to pixelate. Again working out what's causing this would be hard, I guess a large extension lead to downstairs which is on a different ring main.. Although think I'd have given up well before I bothered doing that.

A network engineer could check if there is any noise coming from the cable itself however you can't book these out via a call centre, a service tech would have to arrange for them to visit once they had visited. I guess you class them as the next stage in technical knowledge, they tend to look after large areas, not customers house's. However the equipment they use can detect these errors. That said if whatever it is causing these issues isn't happening at the time they plug their meter in they won't be able to see anything anyway.

I'd check all your connections are tight, check if all the connectors look new and shiny so as to be sure the cables were fully swapped.. And try swapping the upstairs box for the downstairs and see what happens.

Re: very strange technical issue
 

Cheers, will put all that to the engineer when he comes tomorrow to check ;)

Re: very strange technical issue
 

But what about your neighbours' heating?

As Mr Lemming says, it's a job for a specialist Network Tech.

Street lighting. Radar. Taxis. Pirate radio stations. Secret military stuff.

As long as the signal level is set correctly on your cable it's unlikely to matter, as the boxes can cope with a certain range of variation. It's mainly a problem in summer when the cabinets can get very hot.

You know all these people? :)

Re: very strange technical issue
 

I'll pass all this on to the tech tomorrow and the nice lady Sue from exec complaints who is dealing with it, this could be a fun one to get resolved then.. :erm:

It only started around Christmas time, box already been replaced and signal levels checked internally and at cab.

Re: very strange technical issue
 

I also get this static fuzz on my tivo recordings. Happens on every single recording i have and it lasts for about 3 or 4 seconds. It can happen at the start, middle or end of a recording but it will happen on every single recording i make.

Because it lasts only a few seconds ive never been bothered to call up as it doesnt really bother me that much but i certainly do experience it too.

Re: very strange technical issue
 

Well I would have if they turned up, as it happens they didn't.

Re: Very strange technical issue
 

Been out again, still ongoing and will be escalated again to network team. Same problem happening to a few neighbours about here too, engineer spoke to 2 of them today.
Some work was done at headend on Friday to try fix it, still occuring though so hopefully they can find source of it soon.

Re: Very strange technical issue
 

A good quality HDMI cable could help the situation or the TV swap as already stated.

Re: Very strange technical issue
 

Just had network guy at the door, getting more information.

They replaced a part in the local hub site (Kirkintilloch) and they had hoped that had fixed it, also some thing was done at Renfrew which feeds this hub.

Back to the drawing board it seems, least they have been aware of it and doing something about it, though surprised no fault shows on service status.

Re: Very strange technical issue
 

well I have had the network guys out about 3 times and numerous engineer visits at least in my case Virgin are trying hard to fix it but it is still not fixed and it has been going on for months now. I have used different hdmi cables and even tried a different tv and it has made no difference the fault still remains.

Checked central heating timers and its not that.

Hopefully they will get to the bottom of it soon. Totally baffled.

Re: Very strange technical issue
 

I've never seen any fault i've ever had show up on the 'service status page', even if you ring up and they say there is a fault in your area. I think it's just a fixed web page !

Re: Very strange technical issue
 

Just to conclude this, the network engineer came back out at the start of the week, they done something else (replaced a part at the local hub site and tweaked something at the headend).
Fingers crossed it has worked, as not noticed any issues over the last week and the fault has been closed as resolved.
CEO complaints team have closed my complaint and compensated for the disruption to my TV service.

Re: Very strange technical issue
 

it may be concluded for you paultrademark and im glad it has been sorted for you :-) but in my case it is not yet concluded as you know I am in a different area than you and the problems for me are still present :-(

Re: Very strange technical issue
 

Yeah hopefully you can get it escalated to the network techs, must admit they did a great job in keeping me informed by calling round personally a couple of times to check on the fault.

Re: Very strange technical issue
 

well networks have been out at least 3 times to my knowledge, cables have been replaced a full repull done new hdmi lead, new box, new power outlet and still the fault continues.

Virgin have tried and failed to solve this but I cannot fault them for trying. They do not know what to do next and I have no clue either.

All the possible causes my end have been looked at I even tried a different tv, checked heating time switches and so on.