Forum Discussion

brightonjohn's avatar
brightonjohn
Fibre optic
7 days ago

Game of Thrones

I've been watching and enjoying this series until the last few nights and finally until tonight have had to give up. The picture keeps blanking out but the sound keeps going. Tonight it has become impossible to watch. Given how much I pay virgin (over £200 pcm) for my services I think this is a very poor deal.

Is anybody else having this problem?

14 Replies

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta

    VM has enforced HDCP 2.2 for its UHD streams, and if any link in the chain between box and TV (including soundbar or AVR) is not compliant, then the HDCP handshake won't work. So, check your TV specs that the HDMI port (normally HDMI 1) supports HDCP 2.2 and that your HDMI cable is high speed and under 5m in length.

  • We're having the same issue with season 4

    Hoping someone has a fix for it soon! 

    We've reset the virgin box, checked the hdmi but it's only game of thrones with the problem 

  • I've experienced the same issue and it is in fact the reason I've joined the Forum as I search for a resolution. The 'cutting-out and in' only happens with the GoT streaming; I've not seen it anywhere else. To help any Techs who may be trying to troubleshoot this is what I've tried to date.

    1. It happened a few times around Season 4 or 5 but came to a head in Season 6 with Episode 10 being the worst affected.  Interestingly I've just tried that episode again on my other multiroom TV and it was affected the same way but the picture did seem to dim down/up intermittently.

    2. When I experienced the issued I did the obligatory reboot of the box and that made no difference.

    3. I managed to stream the episode on my phone and laptop via the VirginGo App and it worked fine, but when I tried to 'Cast it' onto the TV the same cutting-out and in happened again.

    Anyway, I'm now on Season 8 of my rewatch and when the episodes are problematic with the issue I watch it on my laptop.  Not ideal but it reduces the frustration of not continuing with the storyline at all.

    Here's hoping someone can use this detail to resolve the issue.

    • Richardr1's avatar
      Richardr1
      Fibre optic

      Just having a quick look at Game of Thrones [I chose Season 5 episode 5 as a random episode], and looking at the Sky Showcase version [I've a Stream box so can't watch the UHD version] which should be SDR HD.

      The issue is that the picture is changing throughout from SDR HD to HLG HD. My TV plays through that [an LG] but it does keep putting the HLG banner up, and a look at the detail of the picture shows it changes, as do the exact colours.

      There has been an issue [to me] in that a lot of the HD content in catch up is tagged incorrectly as HLG. For the other programmes I've watched it is consistent throughout the programme, whereas for Game of Thrones it changes sometimes within minute to minute. This will change picture mode and colour space in many TVs depending on set up and model.

      It is impossible to compare directly with the version on SkyQ as they have four versions, SD, HD, UHD, and UHD HDR. The closest to Virgin's, their HD version, doesn't have this issue being consistently in SDR.

      I assume others posting here are using the Sky Showcase version rather than the Sky UHD version which is only available to those who can and do subscribe to the Sky Movies and Entertainment UHD add-on or the Virgin pay per view version.

  • Hi brightonjohn,
    Welcome to the Community, and thank you for posting. I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with your TV services while trying to watch Game of Thrones. Are the issues still ongoing? Has any advice from fellow community members helped to improve things? Let us know so we can support you further.
    Best regards,
    Steven_L

  • Also having the same problem. We have a Sony Bravia TV and have tried all the different audio and visual settings, changed the HDMI, rebooted etc. No problem with any other channel or show; just GoT. Virgin/Sky showcase really need to sort it out as it's clearly a problem their end. 

  • The first 3 seasons of watching GoT has been absolutely fine. Picture and sound quality excellent. However started season 4 and I started getting HDMI 1 Dolby Digital 3640x2160p pop ups at the top of the screen (a banner / overlay) causing the sound and visuals to black out for a few seconds then return. This can happen multiple times during an episode. Sometimes not at all. It is getting worse. GoT seems to be the only program that is causing this. I have tried changing audio settings from follow content to PCM 5.1 and PCM 2.0, disabling Bravia sync on my TV, factory rest on both virgin 360 box and TV. New HDMI lead 2.1 Still doing it. Now GoT is unbearable to watch as it seems to becoming more frequent. Any suggestions? Thanks. 

    • newapollo's avatar
      newapollo
      Very Insightful Person

      On your 360 look at Settings > Audio & Video > Match frame rate. 

      If it's set to ON then people do see a blackout/or hear a sound drop when the 360 or HDMI reconfigures for any difference in frame rate.(This is more noticable on live TV when switching from adverts back to a program, or changing channels)

      If it's set to the default (OFF) then the box just accepts the frame rate difference which isn't noticeable by most users and shouldn't blank the screen out.  (Either way try toggling this setting to see if it solves your issues)

      • The_Mint's avatar
        The_Mint
        Joining in

        Hello newapollo, have tried the Match frame rate both on and off. No difference regarding the information banner pop up. It only does it on GoT.

    • Richardr1's avatar
      Richardr1
      Fibre optic

      It may be worth having a look again at one of the episodes that was previously OK, just to see if that is still fine. It will at least rule out the software update last week being the cause [it has had other effects on UHD viewing].

      Does the popup you get say "Dolby Digital" which is sound related or "Dolby Vision" which is picture related?

      • The_Mint's avatar
        The_Mint
        Joining in

        After your suggestion earlier episodes/seasons are also suffering from this never ending information banner pop up banner.