Pixelating and BBC iPlayer extremely slow

[stevee1]

I seem to get a lot of pixelating on recorde programmes and some on live TV particularly Sky News. I restart the Tivo box and it improves for a few days only.

When watching BBC iplayer from the Tivo box it  is extremely slow slow to load that most of the time I give up. It is a smart TV and iplayer watched direct is hardly any better, yet Netflix is fine which suggests to me that the wireless internet is OK

When I do a speedtest on my hard wired pc I get 100Meg but when I do it on my wireles connected  laptop I only get about 40 Meg so presume it is simialr on TV 

Any help on these issues much appreciated

[japitts · Accepted solution]

Pixellated pictures on live TV are often the sign of a signal fault. If you've rebooted your box once, then there's likely a fault somewhere, so this will need VM to intervene. You're likely to need either an engineer visit or a replacement box, depending on what VM's remote diagnostics turn up.

First check the automated faults line for any existing issues in your area that could be the cause: 0800 5610061. If nothing's reported, assume VM don't know about your fault and ideally you'll need to call them.

150 from a VM phone, 0345 4541111 from any other phone - choose the options for "I have a fault with my TV service". Alternatively you can wait on here for staff to respond.

As for iPlayer, this is often one of 2 issues..

1: TiVo's aren't known for their speed at using apps, they are quite old boxes now. The fix here is to swap out for either a V6 (same software, much newer hardware) or a TV360 (totally different software).

2: iPlayer uses the internet, and the TiVo has an inbuilt connection - check the front of your box for the heartbeat light flashing when you have problems. This indicates a failed modem.

[stevee1]

Thanks, I suspect that both the Tivo box and my Superhub are coming to the end of their lives, but what I don't understand is why BBC iplayer is so bad using it direct on my smart TV, netflix works fine.

[japitts]

You're comparing apples with oranges.

The TiVo is very old hardware and also uses its own internal 10Mb/s connection. Your homehub doesn't come into it.

If you were comparing your connected-TV with the apps on a V6, you're less likely to see significant differences.

TiVo & V6 are streets apart performance-wise.

[stevee1]

I don't think I am explaining myseld very well, I use Netflix as an app on the smart TV not the Tivo box and I also have the app for BBC iplayer so surely when I am using iplayer on the TV app, not Tivo box it is using the Superhub connection direct, and that is hardly any better than when viewing it through the Tivo box.

[japitts]

If the issue is with any apps on your connected-TV, then you'll need to direct those at the TV manufacturer, there may be a SW update available. Out of interest, what's the make & model of your TV?

You'd posted this query in the TiVo-section of the forum so I presumed you were using the VM-TiVo box. In your new scenario, the only involvement VM have is that they provide your broadband connection.

[stevee1]

The TV is a Panasonic 50"  TX-49GS352B, about 3 or 4 years old. I mostly use the Tivo box to record and it's only occasionally I need to look for anything on iplayer that I have missed. With the iplayer being bad on both the Tivo and the app I incorrectly assumed that the fault was with iplayer so never thought any more about it until my friend told me her iplayer is brilliant so I am now assuming I have two problems to sort.

[japitts]

If you have VM broadband, the slow apps are an easy fix. The V6 box runs the same software as your TiVo but on far more capable hardware that has more apps, 6 recording tuners rather than your 3, and is a much better experience.

Report the pixellation fault as I mentioned earlier, and if your box is deemed faulty, there's a good chance you'll get upgraded to a V6 if you ask. They might give you a sales pitch on TV360 as well, but just do your homework on that first - a good comparison between TiVo/V6 & TV360 is a swap between Android & iOS. They're very different, and that is completely voluntary.

[stevee1]

Thank You,

I will get on to them in the morning

[John_GS]

Hi stevee1

Thanks for posting and welcome to the community.

I am sorry for the pixelation issue. I will send a PM as you need a tech visit

Best,