Forum Discussion

JohnROrange's avatar
JohnROrange
On our wavelength
5 months ago
Solved

Pixellated Channels

I have been a Virgin customer since it was Eurobell, having signed up in 1999, but when my current contract expires next month, I am considering moving to a different supplier.

The reason?  So many of the TV channels my wife likes to watch are so pixellated in the evenings that they are unwatchable.  And we're not talking obscure edge case channels here: BBC 1 to 4, ITV 1 to 4, and many other main channels are basically unviewable after about 6 in the evening.

It started with BBC1, with the problem starting during the Spotlight local evening news progam each evening, and steadily getting worse.  Over the last year or so, it has spread to other channels, and now affects a large portion of our Mega TV package - many channels actually show a "Channel Failed" message.

We've called out engineers, and the last one replaced the 360 box, but it hasn't really fixed anything.  When we talk to the support line, they tell us their diagnostics shows nothing wrong.  

I can see that there have been many threads on similar things over the last two years, but none of them seem to end in a positive outcome: can anyone point me out a successful resolution that I can use to resolve the issue, or should I just look for another supplier?


I've recently retired, and am now on pensions only, so the prices the alternative suppliers are offering are very tempting - I certainly don't feel I'm getting £90 plus worth of service from Virgin at the moment!

John Orange
Plymouth, UK

360tv
Pixellation
  • JohnROrange's avatar
    JohnROrange
    7 hours ago

    Here's an update for the community.

    After months of no progress because of being distracted by life for a while, I mentioned the issue to a VM employee who was helping me with another issue here on the forum.  He immediately booked an engineer, who came this morning. 

    Unlike the previous engineer, who merely replaced the STB, he listened to our description of the issue, investigated, and found and fixed the problem - at least we hope so: we won't be sure until this evening.

    Ultimately, he discovered a damaged cable connector on the splitter, which was probably contributing, but we also still had the Eurobell isolator from our original installation in 1999!
    He replaced the isolator and the damaged connector, capped an unused port on the splitter, and remade the TV connection cable, replacing the DIY one I'd made to test out the forum suggestions.  
    Overall, he was here for less than 30 minutes, was very helpful and informative, and has probably fixed the issue.

    Thanks to the forum for their suggestions, even if none of them were the solution.  

    John Orange
    Plymouth, UK

5 Replies

  • Vikki_M's avatar
    Vikki_M
    Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
    5 months ago

    Hi John,

    Thanks for your post and welcome to our community.

    We are sorry to hear about the issues you're having with the TV service. 

    Do you have an error code on the TV screen?
    Are your other services working well?

    Is the issue with just Standard Definition Channels?

    Is the Virgin TV box connected directly to the TV?

     

    Please enter the settings menu and ensure the picture resolution is set to 'Automatic'

     

    Please also check the below. 

    • confirm that the cable is securely connected to both the set top box and the TV - disconnect and reconnect the cable to be sure
    • try connecting the cable to a different port on the TV
    • try using a different cable

    Please let us know if any of the above had resolved the issue. 

    Regarding the cost, please give the team a call on 150 (free of charge) from a Virgin Media landline or 0345 454 1111 from any other phone and we'd be happy to look at what renewal deals are available for you. 
     

  • japitts's avatar
    japitts
    Very Insightful Person
    5 months ago

    I missed this thread when it was first posted.

    JohnROrange​ Pixellation is how digital TV systems handle poor signal - so the fix isn't to find an alternate supplier but identify the source of the poor signal. Channels are also carried across VM's network in clusters which don't bear any resemblance to their EPG positions. So if a particular frequency is affected, then all the channels on that frequency will pixellate - you don't get BBC1, BBC2, ITV & C4 on one mux, but a combination of genres.

    Having said all that, I'm not entirely convinced the response from Vikki_M​ below, is spot on as regards diagnosis. By that, I'm driving at whether non-live-TV sources work OK? Can you view OnDemand & streaming services? These aren't transmitted in the same way, thus will be a good test of your box's video output.

    The obvious answer to any CS bod or home-tech saying "their diagnostics don't show a problem" is to point out your service issues (preferably via a recording of your problematic picure) with a comment along the lines of "well I'm not calling you for the fun of it" - there's a diplomatic way of doing this, but I hope you get my drift. You mention that no previous threads seem to end with a resolution - frustratingly for regular users, people tend not to post on support fora when issues are rectified. They just disappear quietly.

    • JohnROrange's avatar
      JohnROrange
      On our wavelength
      4 months ago

      Thanks for the suggestions.

      I'm a bit slow to reply, because last time I checked there were no responses, and I was surprised to get an email saying there were three replies this evening.

      I won't be able to test these out for a few days, but I will report back - especially about whether I get any issues with streaming services.  

      John

       

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta
    5 months ago

    I think a tech should check the cabinet first and if no problem then replace coaxial cables, splitters and connectors inside home as EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) can be the cause of the problem.

  • JohnROrange's avatar
    JohnROrange
    On our wavelength
    7 hours ago

    Here's an update for the community.

    After months of no progress because of being distracted by life for a while, I mentioned the issue to a VM employee who was helping me with another issue here on the forum.  He immediately booked an engineer, who came this morning. 

    Unlike the previous engineer, who merely replaced the STB, he listened to our description of the issue, investigated, and found and fixed the problem - at least we hope so: we won't be sure until this evening.

    Ultimately, he discovered a damaged cable connector on the splitter, which was probably contributing, but we also still had the Eurobell isolator from our original installation in 1999!
    He replaced the isolator and the damaged connector, capped an unused port on the splitter, and remade the TV connection cable, replacing the DIY one I'd made to test out the forum suggestions.  
    Overall, he was here for less than 30 minutes, was very helpful and informative, and has probably fixed the issue.

    Thanks to the forum for their suggestions, even if none of them were the solution.  

    John Orange
    Plymouth, UK