Virgin Media Community

[charlestsa]

Following an engineers visit in February my system was reset and the pixelating (random) on recordings went away.

I was advised to check the RS Uncorrected and Corrected Figures for each of the tuners if this happened again. Figures are both showing 0.

Rebooted the system and today 3 pixelated recordings,this only lasts for a split second,but system still shows0.

If I am lucky the system operates smoothly for around 3 months before the trouble returns. It has happened about eight times.

Where should the engineer now be looking?Last year all the cabling in the main distribution box for my road,20 yards from me,was replaced and new cabling was put in from the box to the wall on the side of the house.

Two years ago I reluctantly changed the box but we are still no further forward.

[japitts]

I can see in a previous thread (https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Virgin-TV-V6/Sound-Break-Up-especially-on-Sky-Film-Channels/m-p... ) you were advised to try watching some affected channels live and to see what the outcome was - I don't think I can see any follow up to that.

You seem to be describing, give or take, the same issues again, so I would emphasise the same test. Pick an affected channel (makes no odds what it is) and leave it running live for a while. If you get pixellation - you most likely have signal issues.

If there's no issues, then pause the channel for 30 seconds or so, and watch it delayed for a while. If you didn't get pixellation before but do not, I would suspect hard drive issues.

I don't know who advised you to check the RS Error count, but as far as trying to diagnose TV faults go, I strongly suspect that's overthinking it and missing the basic tests, The same goes for querying what fixes a local field tech should be doing - let's cover the basics and see where that sends the "train of thought".

Reading between the lines of what's been changed, you've already had a re-pull which is quite often the last resort in troubleshooting network issues. If my suspicion about this is correct, then that's not something that's undertaken lightly.

If you wait around here for a couple of days, VM forum staff should be able to run some remote diagnostics on your kit and see if any problems are apparent. But I really do think that the monitoring of live, then delayed, programming will be a great help in seeing whether your issues are more likely to be on your incoming feed or hard-drive related.

[charlestsa]

Thank you for your very helpful reply.

Regarding the the issue of the sound on Sky movies then I have only watched one program since reporting the problem and that was fine .

Originally it was thought that the the problems were due to the hard disk which is why,despite having many recordings saved I accepted a brand new box.

However over the last couple of years this has performed in a very similar manner to the previous box. A few months without any issues and the the pixelation slowly returns.

Essentially we have not made any progress in nearly 3 years. The engineer visits, checks and resets the equipment and and everything is fine for a few months.

At the moment we are not making any permanent headway.

I think it highly unlikely that the hard disc could be the issue since it is behaving very similar to the original V6.

Before another engineers visit if you have any further info that would be appreciated.

Thank you

[japitts]

Try the tests that have been previously mentioned, and that'll be as good a next step as anything.

Pick an affected channel (makes no odds what it is) and leave it running live for a while. If you get pixellation - you most likely have signal issues.

If there's no issues, then pause the channel for 30 seconds or so, and watch it delayed for a while.

[charlestsa]

I have been viewing a great deal of programmes as well as recording the same .Random Pixelation occurs exactly at the same time and place on the live and recorded programme.

All diagnostics show 0 figures throughout for RS Connected and Unconnected.

Is there anything from the diagnostics that would identify the problem.

SNR  41 DB on all tuners plus 100,% signal

[charlestsa]

Your initial question was practically the same as mine posted a few weeks ago.

Like yourself the engineers have over the course of a couple of years replaced everything that you have had replaced.I only let them replace the V6 box on the agreement that the original box could be returned.

The replacement box had the same issues so original box returned.

Once again I will be calling out the engineer(3rd visit this year) . Everything will be checked  and reset .For around a month there is no issues,then the pixelation returns.

Completely random ,can happen up to three times in a half hour programme.

The engineers all say that I SHOULD not be getting this problem.They do not know what is causing it since ,like yourself everything has been replaced.

I hope that your engineer can finally find an answer .If so please let me know.

Many thanks

[Chambers21]

Charlestsa I feel your pain. It first started happening over a year ago but was fixed after a few visits. Problem started again a few weeks ago and was getting worse, especially in the evenings. At the worst times it could happen up to a dozen times in an hour and fortunately happened on recordings as well so I could show the engineers I wasn't exagerating. I will let you know how this ends.

[charlestsa]

Just like yourself problem sorted and then returns.

Surely there must be other community members with the same issue  and having the same outcome as ourselves?

[japitts]

@charlestsa 

In one of your previous posts (I've merged them all to make the forum team's job following your issue, easier) you said "Random Pixelation occurs exactly at the same time and place on the live and recorded programme"

Does this mean that you had picture breakup on live TV viewing?

Is that the consistent experience? It's breakup & pixellation on live TV that sets HDD issues apart from signal/tuner problems.

Following that, are there any specific channels particularly affected?

[charlestsa]

Have watched more live programmes whilst recording the same. As it is on live then it records it as well.

No particular channel but Great Railway Journeys on BBC 2 is a typical example.On Tuesday it pixelated twice,sound not effected.

Just like the other person with these issues on this thread there doesn't seem to be a fix .

Once again the Virgin engineer will visit and we start the same cycle again!

I have spoken to a friend who has Virgin Media and he has similar random issues of pixelation but puts it down to interference somewhere!!