Forum Discussion

sku11meister's avatar
sku11meister
Fibre optic
2 years ago

sky sports app through virgin keeps going blurry on pc

Hi, I some times have to watch football through the web portal on virgin tv go, it loads the sky sports app and works ok for the first 10 mins or so, then when the game starts it keep going pixalated and blurry to the point you cant even make out the players or the ball? 

Its not a broadband issue or network issue, I have my own router and switch and thats managed, its showing no issues, errors or dropped packets or lag on the network. I have approx 960Mbps down and 106Mpbs up so its not that.

Netflix, amazon prime and plex all stream at higher quality without even glitching. looks like a Sky Sports issue with their app, but how do i complain about that or get support? Im not a sky customer?! 

are there any ports i need to open to help this? or any other advice? Its annoying! 

 

 (im watching on windows 10 gaming rig thats an i7 with 32gig of ram and 1060 6gb card with a lan connection to a unifi UDM PRO Router)

 

thanks in advance for any ideas/help 🙂

  • fremont_views's avatar
    fremont_views
    Joining in
    2 years ago

    Hello sku11meister, you are not alone.

     

    I have the same issue. I'm trying to watch US Open qualifying using the Sky Sports player, logged in as a Virgin Media customer. Some of the time the picture is really sharp, but mostly it is so blurry it is unwatchable. It keeps changing from sharp to blurry, generally being the latter for a couple minutes at a time.

     

    I can watch TNT Sports from Virgin TV Go with no problems, along all other channels, including Sky Cinema. The only ones that are unwatchable are the Sky Sports channels. 

     

    I too think it is a problem with the app.  I'm using Windows 10, on a new(ish) laptop and have ensured I have the latest version of the Sky Sports player installed.

     

    I would like to reiterate sku11meister's thanks in advance for any ideas that might help.

  • Travis_M's avatar
    Travis_M
    Forum Team (Retired)
    2 years ago

    Hi sku11meister

     

    Thanks for posting on our community forum and sorry to hear about the issue you're experiencing with the Sky Sports app

     

    Have you tried downloading the Sky Video player directly on a compatible laptop / device and watching via here? If not, please give this a try and let us know how you get on

     

    Regards

    • sku11meister's avatar
      sku11meister
      Fibre optic
      2 years ago

      Hi travis, sorry I didn’t explain correctly. I have the sky sports player which it prompts you to download and install anyway. As Fremont explained it’s the same issue, I watch football and it works fine for 5-6 mins then goes unwatchable and blurry/ pixilated.

      it seems to be getting worse and occurs more than a few months ago. It’s getting to the point where I can’t watch a game on sky sports player as it’s like an illegal stream?!?

      • Travis_M's avatar
        Travis_M
        Forum Team (Retired)
        2 years ago

        Hi sku11meister 

         

        Thanks for your response

         

        How does the streaming respond when using a different device such as a a mobile phone etc? If you haven't tried this, can you give it a try please? 

         

        Regards

  • sku11meister's avatar
    sku11meister
    Fibre optic
    2 years ago

    hi steven , its not using a browser, its actually the sky sports player. Watching the Arsenal - Everton game today and it has worked perfectly today, they must have fixed the issue?

  • elitement's avatar
    elitement
    Joining in
    2 years ago

    hey to this this im still getting this problem its something do to with the sky sports player i think ive tried everything it gets so pixeltated its unwatchable..happens like every 30 seconds goes blurry for 10 seconds..and ive just went and bough a brand new top of the ranger laptop so all specs are well up to date.

  • Mike02392's avatar
    Mike02392
    Tuning in
    2 years ago

    Hello, I've been getting this problem as well for about 3-4 months now. It really needs to be fixed!

    I know it's a Sky product, but Sky refuse to help us because we are not Sky customers*, so I think this falls to Virgin to raise urgently with Sky to request a fix.

    * if anyone else has had any luck in getting Sky to look into it then please let me know!

    • Daniel_Et's avatar
      Daniel_Et
      Forum Team
      2 years ago

      Hi Mike02392 👋 Thank you for your post and welcome to the Virgin Media Community 😀

      We're sorry to hear about the problem you're having 😔

      Have you been experiencing this across multiple devices?

      Please pop back to us at your earliest convenience and we'll do our very best to help.

      Regards,
      Daniel

      • Mike02392's avatar
        Mike02392
        Tuning in
        2 years ago

        Hi Daniel

        I don't have any other devices to try it on, unfortunately.

        Many thanks,

        Mike

  • elitement's avatar
    elitement
    Joining in
    2 years ago

    well virgin you can only get the sky sports app on 2 devices the laptop or mobile/tablet...they all do it when you log in using your virgin details and as tried to raise with sky they wont even look at it as im a virign customer so then we go back to u lot and u say go to sky lol...the sky sports player just goes blurry/pixelated every 30 secs or so.. its so unwatchable and for some of us its the only option when working away alot!

    • Daniel_Et's avatar
      Daniel_Et
      Forum Team
      2 years ago

      Hi elitement 👋 Thank you for your post and welcome to the Virgin Media Community 😀

      We're sorry to hear about the issue you're experiencing 😔

      Can you please confirm what type of laptop (macOS or Windows) and mobile device (Android or iPhone) you're using?

      Regards,
      Daniel

      • elitement's avatar
        elitement
        Joining in
        2 years ago

        Hey Daniel..im using an Acer Nitro, 144hz full HD,12th gen processor,Windows 11 home with 16 gb Ram..thanks ...Steven

  • Mike02392's avatar
    Mike02392
    Tuning in
    2 years ago

    Hi Zoie

    I've uploaded two stills - one showing when it's fine, and the other when the issue is occurring. It flits between the two states regularly (although at seemingly random intervals), perhaps 5-10 seconds each. The sound is completely fine and the picture is still moving at a normal frame rate. It's just the picture quality drops to an unwatchable mess!

    • Daniel_Et's avatar
      Daniel_Et
      Forum Team
      2 years ago

      Hi Mike02392, thank you for providing those screenshots.

      Just to confirm, what device are you using?

      Regards,
      Daniel

      • Mike02392's avatar
        Mike02392
        Tuning in
        2 years ago

        Hi Daniel

        I'm using an ASUS VivoBook F515JA 15.6" Laptop - Intel® Core™ i5, 256 GB SSD, Grey, with Windows 11 (whatever the latest build is).

        Many thanks

        Mike

  • jlongy95's avatar
    jlongy95
    Joining in
    2 years ago

    I am a new customer to Virgin and experiencing this problem for the first time today. A quick google search brings up several threads all complaining of the same issue.

    In every case it's clear the app is at fault. Virgin then say they can't do anything about it as it's not their app, and to get support from Sky. So, the person goes to Sky and they say they can't help as they are not a Sky customer, and to raise the support from Virgin. ...And so the silly merry go round continues.

    It's obvious, from 10 minutes of research, that Sky can't be bothered to deal with it in hopes it drives customers back to them for sky sports directly. Shockingly, Vigin can't be bothered to do anything about it on their end 'as it's not our app/responsibility'.

    So, can I get some actual support to this problem? It's clear Virgin need to speak to Sky on our behalf, so please explain to me when this will happen.

     

     

    • Matthew_ML's avatar
      Matthew_ML
      Forum Team
      2 years ago

      Hey jlongy95, thank you for reaching out and a warm welcome to the community I am so sorry to hear about this.

      Please can you expand on what issues are you facing is it Sky Sports being blurry on the PC?

      When we say Blurry do we mean pixeled?

      Or is it in SD instead of HD? 

      How is your PC connected via WIFI or cable?

      • jlongy95's avatar
        jlongy95
        Joining in
        12 months ago

        Hi Matt - it's the exact same issue which has been documented in this tread by the original poster and others. The video playback flicks between HD and then blurry, as though the internet connection has slowed (which it hasn't).

        My internet is very fast, 500mbs and working perfectly, capable of streaming 4k youtube videos without issue.

         

        Can you please organise for Virgin to speak to Sky about the player on our behalf? It's the player which is the problem, as it is with all other contributors in this thread.

        Cheers, James

  • Hannsfree72's avatar
    Hannsfree72
    Tuning in
    11 months ago

    I have exactly the same problem with a Ryzen 1.9 laptop and internet running at 600 mbs and currently sitting within 1 meter of the Router. I can watch anything and receive 100 % no problem ive also tried on lesser desktop PC only a 1.7 im afraid. I would imagine the answer lies with Sky not Virgin.

    • gilbo2's avatar
      gilbo2
      Dialled in
      11 months ago
      Hannsfree72 wrote:

      ... I would imagine the answer lies with Sky not Virgin.

      I often watch Sky Sports through Now TV / non-VM and that can be just as bad for popular events 😐

      • Hannsfree72's avatar
        Hannsfree72
        Tuning in
        11 months ago

        And what have you done about this unacceptable problem ? I have the answer 🙂

    • JohnEdwards's avatar
      JohnEdwards
      Up to speed
      8 months ago

      Sorry, above message was corrupted - try again:

      We suffer from the same problem - exactly as described by everyone above. It is NOT new - it's been there as long as we've used this means of access to Sky Sports (a couple of years).

      I'd describe the issue as an intermittent (every few minutes) loss of resolution (for 15-30 seconds) from HD to much less than SD. The images posted earlier give a very good representation, although it can be MUCH worse.

      It seems to me that it is worst when a very popular sport/event/match is playing. So I wonder whether the problem is that Sky have not provided a large enough 'pipe' to cater for Virgin's customers' demands.

      We can only use it on an Asus laptop, which is fully updated, on Win11.

      What has been the outcome of Virgin's escalation to Sky - given that this topic started about 9 months ago?????

      • Megan_L's avatar
        Megan_L
        Forum Team
        8 months ago

        Hi JohnEdwards, 

        Thanks for your post and welcome back to our Community Forums.

        Sorry you're seeing this poor quality on the Sky Sports App, we're not aware of any issue pertaining to this kind of problem at the moment. Sky have also not contacted us to suggest otherwise.

        I understand you've mentioned a problem that started 9 months ago, but this was for an issue that regarded no access to the Sky Sports app at all. This was resolved and no other Sky Sports issues have been reported, even for pixilation.
        Can you let us know if your laptop has the ability to plug an Ethernet in? If yes, could you try this and let us know if the quality is any better please? 

        Thanks,

        Meg