Forum Discussion

issueepic's avatar
issueepic
Tuning in
11 months ago

Poor 4k quality on Stream box

Hi all,

Anyone notice that picture quality on all channels including UHD channels is noticeably worse on 4K TVs when HDMI mode is set to 4k? Even the menus look much softer with a distinct lack of sharpness. 

When I switch HDMI mode in the Stream box to 1080p menus look sharper as does the image quality of all channels. 

I am thinking my 4K TV is going a better job of upscaling to 4k than the Stream box is but just wondering if anyone else has a similar experience on their end? 

Thanks 

 

  • Hello Issuepic.

    Thanks for your post and welcome back to our community.

    It's a very good question you have asked when the stream box shows sharper images when set to 1080p over 4K.

    Can I just check if this happens when the picture resolution is set to automatic?

    Also have you tried try connecting the cable to a different port on the TV? 

    If possible try using a different cable?

    Gareth_L

    • issueepic's avatar
      issueepic
      Tuning in

      Hi Gareth,

      Yes, this happens if I set the picture resolution at 4K or automatic. I've tried a different HDMI port and cable but issue persists.

      I'll likely be switching to Sky when my contract ends in a few months as Virgin weren't offering me great deals when I contacted them via WhatsApp a few months ago, so I'll likely get Sky Stream if I do end up moving to Sky unless a get a great deal from Virgin. 

      • Ilyas_Y's avatar
        Ilyas_Y
        Forum Team

        Thanks for the reply issueepic 

        Have you tried to reach out to our retentions team to see what they can offer in terms of a renewal? We'd hate to see you leave. 😢
        In terms of the quality of the pixels - may I ask if you've reached out to our customer services team to see if any issues have been identified with the box?

        Has the settings for the TV been upscaled so that it supports 4K? Let us know. 🧾

        Kind regards,
        Ilyas.

  • Retentions could only offer me £121.25 per month for what Sky is offering above, actually less because Sky offer Netflix included with entertainment package as well. I've always been disappointed with Virgins approach to retentions with them not offering a good deal to keep customers coming up to the end of their contract.

    I get the same "wait until 1 month to get the best deals" message. I am out of contract in around 2-3 months, not sure why Virgin can't just offer me a better deal now and get me tied into another 18 month contract.

    I guess the recent Ofcom publishing of complaints having Virgin as the lowest scoring provider with most complaints isn't a surprise with how their retentions team deal with existing customers. At least when I join Sky, I'll hopefully get better customer service when it comes to retentions.

    • David_Bn's avatar
      David_Bn
      Forum Team

      You're most welcome to come back to us to discuss a new deal when your contract is set to expire if you wish to do so issueepic.

      When a customer is within the last 30 days of their contract, and offers us their notice for cancellation, this puts the customer in a very strong negotiating position and will likely provide the possibility of better offers from out Retentions team, as we close in on the disconnection date set.

      Thanks,

      David_Bn

  • unisoft's avatar
    unisoft
    Knows their stuff

    Let the TV do the upscaling not the box. Even on Sky Stream. Whilst that won't fix specific colour saturation issues on specific channels, it makes other channels look better (unless the tv has a terrible deinterlacer/upscale chip). The SD and HD channels on VM Stream are superior in quality to Sky Stream (NOTE: I did not include 4K). I had both platforms until a couple of weeks ago. For a start, all channels are encoded properly on VM Stream platform and not simple 1080p25 from a 1080i source like some on Sky Stream.

  • Just to provide an update on this. Virgin were unable to offer me a good deal (Price going from £85 per month to £135 per month) so I moved to Sky and wow the quality of the channels on Sky Stream are way better than Virgin Stream. The UI of Sky Stream is also way better. SD also much better on Sky Stream, with channels appearing without notable pixelation unlike Virgin stream.

    I'm thinking Virgin must heavily compress their source for the quality to be much lower than Sky Stream channels. 

    Glad I made the switch. 

    • unisoft's avatar
      unisoft
      Knows their stuff

      issueepic wrote:

      Just to provide an update on this. Virgin were unable to offer me a good deal (Price going from £85 per month to £135 per month) so I moved to Sky and wow the quality of the channels on Sky Stream are way better than Virgin Stream. The UI of Sky Stream is also way better. SD also much better on Sky Stream, with channels appearing without notable pixelation unlike Virgin stream.

      I'm thinking Virgin must heavily compress their source for the quality to be much lower than Sky Stream channels. 

      Glad I made the switch. 


      Sorry, but for balance, I have to disagree. I've used both until recently. Whilst Sky Stream 4K is better, all the SD and HD channels are better via VM Stream. VM have direct feeds. It's no longer the analogue days of decode and recode from DTT or DSAT for majority of channels. Sky Stream also was plagued with firmware issues for me and users in their own forum like "Please wait for the channel to load", often with a black screen despite an excellent connection. Also the favourites system is limited to containing just 99 channels in it so you cant add all the channels you want and renumber them how you like them to be, because only 99. Many other issues as well.

      Glad its working out for you though, but just needed to point out that Sky isn't always better. You'll come across stuff on it after a while that is annoying. VM have had their own firmware issues but channel changing was faster and the box was a hell of a lot snappier in response than Sky's....And don't get me on the very odd way Sky do catch up apps on a remote virtual platform which meant in peak times it would often have issues......

      • issueepic's avatar
        issueepic
        Tuning in

        Glad to hear Virgin Stream is working out well for you. 🙂

        One noticeable difference I noticed between picture quality being much better on Sky Stream than Virgin stream in SD was Blaze and Sky Replay. On Virgin Stream both these channels were a pixelated mess but on Sky Stream they look HD quality. With that said in Catchup programs I noticed Sky Stream says Blaze and Sky Replay shows are HD so maybe Virgin Stream only have these channels in SD whereas Sky has them in HD which may be the reason for the difference in quality.

        VM have had their own firmware issues but channel changing was faster and the box was a hell of a lot snappier in response than Sky's...

        I thought Virgin Stream was extremely fast and was loving how slick the interface was but after the addition of the +1 channels and after playing a UHD channel the interface was no longer slick and needed a reboot for slickness to restored. Maybe the box is slightly underpowered when running UHD channels or with the number of channels run on the platform. This will probably have been resolved since I last used Virgin Stream though possibly with a firmware update

        > Stream also was plagued with firmware issues for me and users in their own forum like "Please wait for the channel to load", often with a black screen despite an excellent connection.

        I haven't noticed this issue once. Although I am running a TP Link Archer AX55 router instead of the Sky router and my living room with the Sky Stream is in the next room to the router so that might be why I haven't experienced the issue (or I'm just lucky).

        Thanks for your input on this. Great to have a discussion like this.

        Once my Sky contract is over I might check back in the thread to learn of improvements that have been made to Virgin Stream which may get me to move back 🙂