Pixelation and severe distortion.

[HonorlessWeasel]

Hello, 

Yes, I know that there are many posts on this subject!

This has been going on for us since last year, it started off as just a line or two across the screen occasionally but now it is at least half of the screen, sometimes all of it, every few seconds. It's on live TV and recordings. Really annoys my husband when trying to watch live sport.

Last time I tried to call about it I waited for three quarters of an hour with no answer but had to hang up because I ran out of time. I have a TiVO box with phone/TV/broadband, I've had the box for many years and it still works but slowly. 

I've done all of the things on this page (https://www.virginmedia.com/care/fix-your-tv) more than once, and it's made no difference. Back at the beginning of February there was a Virgin engineer outside our house (most people round here have Virgin over other providers) and the picture improved for a few days - it was actually perfect. We then went away and when we returned three weeks later it was worse than ever before. I regularly look at the status page for my area and there's never much going on, can't see it this weekend though, nor anything else on the Virgin website! 

Unfortunately I don't have hours to sit and wait on the phone every day in the hope that someone might answer it because I work and have commitments, so I'm hoping that I can get some help here.

My husband would love to watch The Masters without interruption and I would like to watch some of my recordings of The Bill!

Tá muchly 😊

[japitts]

My standard advice to all pixellation queries applies just as well here as anytime... (and sorry for the long-post)

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, which may take a day or so.

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@HonorlessWeasel wrote:

I have a TiVO box with phone/TV/broadband, I've had the box for many years and it still works but slowly. 😊

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Depending whether you're in your minimum term contract or not will dictate how strong your negotiating position is, however...

The TiVo's remain fully functional, but were never known for their speed. You meet the criteria for an change to a V6 box or 360. They're both the same physical box (much newer and quicker than your TiVo), but the major difference is the software. The TiVo has an inbuilt internet connection for all the online functionality the V6/360 doesn't - hence the requirement to have VM broadband.

V6 runs the same software as you're used to, just with the additional speed, 6 recording tuners rather than your 3, and additional streaming apps.

360 is completely different software, that is not TiVo and has pros & cons. Do your research, there's plenty of threads on here (this one as good as anything ), and then you'll need to call VM to see what deal they'll offer you. The staff who respond on here can assist with faults, but can't do package changes.