Channel 4 had pixelating

[Balboy]

Hi all, we have a strange issue, we are getting random pixelation, for a second or two, but only on Channel 4 HD.  Have checked all connections and getting 1/2 strength signal on 2 feeds with 95% quality on both inputs.

have tried a planner rebuild x2 and this has made no difference.

 Any ideas?

[LaineyC]

@Balboy

Hi there. Yes! 

This has been happening to me since Thursday, the 21st. I have been seeing it on Channel 4 HD, E4 HD is fine so I checked SD which appears to be fine also.
So I then looked up which frequency HD is to see if there were any other channels on the same one to check. Which turned out to be 4Seven. So I checked that and was able to see it happening there too.

Had to drag it out of the Sky Help Twitter team if there is any known issues or any kind of status page for such things, who just told me to phone for an engineer before finally saying if there were any issues with channels they inform customers.
Ahem, sorry but that's a load of rubbish going by any previous channel issues! 

I had a hard time buying I needed an engineer when it was with only those two channels or even one. Especially since Channel 4 HD every now and then goes through periods where there's an issue of the sound cutting out for a second at a time and it's a widely experienced thing. 

So for that and other reasons was in no rush to call for an engineer quite yet.

Glad I waited as today, Sunday 24th others like yourself have started to mention noticing the issue.

Someone replied to me and the team today with the following info: 

'I seem to be seeing the same - the Mux is 11126.5v, Channel 4 HD and 4seven. There are bursts of 'continuity errors', which means part of the video stream is going missing'.

So it isn't just you or I! 

[LaineyC]

PS. As stated when logging in. Engineers are only working outside homes right now which must cause issues if needing to check anything via Sky boxes which is how I've been shown they check for dish issues in the past, or if install new cables for instance.  

[Balboy]

Thanks @LaineyC I will try to hassle Sky and see if they acknowledge the issue.  Would be interested if anyone comes up with a fix

[Annie+UK]

The Last Leg had the picture brreak up and sound drop for a few seconds twice on Fridays recording here in London (no snow)

[LaineyC]

@Annie+UK Yes, this was one of the programmes I watched to check it was still happening later on too after seeing it happen various times between 5-7.30pm two days in a row, and caught it happen about 20 minutes in. 
picture break up and sound interruption at the same time. 

[Scuzibut]

Getting same issue , and agree that 21st seems to be when it started. The only info that the sky q troubleshooter mentions pixelating pictures, but not on just one channel. Don't watch 4Seven so no idea about that channel

[Scuzibut]

Also to state we are a very recent install, early dec, so new box, new dish, and also no sow here.

[caesarome]

At the end of the The Great Pottery Thrown Down just prior to 9pm there was quite a bad picture glitch when the credits were being displayed.

There was also one during The Great at 9.44pm which saw my onscreen banner appear and a finial one during this episode at 10.01pm.

[SalfordRed99]

We've got the same issue on channel 4 HD. This seemed to happen a couple of years ago as well. Is there a reason for this that anyone is aware of?

[Capt+Scott]

Having the exact same issue since 21st and only on 4HD.

Just watched The Great and I had pixelation four times during the programme.

was worried it was just me!

[LaineyC]

Since my last reply, the chap that had been looking around with me discovered that it's also been happening on Virgin, since Thursday 21st also. 

At first glance that would suggest it's Channel 4's responsibility but he pointed  out it depends if Virgin are relaying the satellite channel. 
I had already retweeted info to Channel 4 in case it helped get the issue noticed by the relevant people any. 

So just a case of waiting to find out who's responsible for sorting it out I guess, while more people continue to post about the issue, continuing to help  get it acknowledged. 

[LaineyC]

*Touch wood* looks like it was fixed yesterday at some point. Caught Hollyoaks last night and pretty sure there wasn't any issues compared to Thursday and Friday's episodes and have stopped noticing any blips in the sound when not paying full attention either. Although there was a typical Ch4, second long, miss a word out, style blip in sound during The Simpsons just now. But no picture break up. 
Have noticed Ch4 having periods of sound issues like that in the past a few times.  But far more frequently during a programme than the picture/encoding issues that were happening. 

Surely someone or thing monitors these things for it to come to their attention/to be fixed? Guessing they were off over the weekend. 😉

[LaineyC]

Just a bit of an update as heard back from the 4Viewers official channel4 account today, who confirmed first reply, the issues., They said:

'Hi, we were aware of some intermittent issues on these channels which
engineers were looking into - can you let us know if this is still an issue.'

Also solving the mystery as to which company were the ones who worked on it. By the sounds of it. 👍🏻
Helpful for future reference too. 

[Capt+Scott]

Thanks for the update LaineyC.

All sounds promising.

Let's hope they've sorted the issue now, fingers crossed 🤞