Not sure if this is relevant or not, but thought I would share this
I recently had a similar problem with loss of video/audio, it would stop and start on most channels, and especially on channel 5 where it was doing it every few seconds, making it totally unwatchable. It only really happened after they did the upgrade for the BBCi stuff earlier this year. This was on a Pace 4010 box btw. Called the ntl engineer out, who claimed it was a low signal problem (total bs, checked the levels before hand), and said replacing the cable to the stb would fix the problem. Surprise surprise after he left, no difference. Called a second engineer out who tried to pull the same thing, and then even claimed it was overheating (bless em
). Eventually got him to replace the box with a new Samsung, and all is right as rain
.
Moral of this story... demand a replacement
-KrK