Fta Channels Breaking Up

[sydmos]

Since the change over has anyone else had the problems of the FTA channels pixelating ?

When it happens I flick to another channel eg from ABC to UKTV and the UKTV is fine but when go back to ABC or Ch 72

I get periods of pixelation to point where it says no signal.

I did have this problem with all channels last year and they came and stuck an extra plug into my Fox box that the cable then

plugged into ( instead of the cable just going straight into the Fox box ).

[tpower]

Since the change over has anyone else had the problems of the FTA channels pixelating ?

When it happens I flick to another channel eg from ABC to UKTV and the UKTV is fine but when go back to ABC or Ch 72

I get periods of pixelation to point where it says no signal.

I did have this problem with all channels last year and they came and stuck an extra plug into my Fox box that the cable then

plugged into ( instead of the cable just going straight into the Fox box ).

Yes, for the last month the FTA channels are pixelating every few seconds, and occassionally I get the "no signal being received" message, yet the foxtel channels work fine.

Have you called Foxtel yet or had a technician take a look?

[tpower]

Yes, for the last month the FTA channels are pixelating every few seconds, and occassionally I get the "no signal being received" message, yet the foxtel channels work fine.

Have you called Foxtel yet or had a technician take a look?

To follow up, I did a Signal Test and had a strength of -12dB. I unplugged the cable and put it back in, and after reconnecting my signal strength was -7dB. This improved strength has rectified the problem I was having. Perhaps the FTA channels require a stronger signal, and therefore are the first to degrade when the signal strength is poor.

[sydmos]

Yes, for the last month the FTA channels are pixelating every few seconds, and occassionally I get the "no signal being received" message, yet the foxtel channels work fine.

Have you called Foxtel yet or had a technician take a look?

To be honest have been slack. Not as in lazy , just way busy with work for end of year etc. When it plays up I just switch over to the digital channel anyway.

The last week though has been much better. If it keeps up in Jan I have time off and will give Foxtel a ring.

If it had been the Foxtel channels as well like last time then of course would have made time but in my area I get all the digital channels on the Plasma just

fine. Only pain is cant record if need to.

Thanks for replies guys. Glad it wasnt only just me

[judge25]

I am also having some level of problems with the FTA channels both standard and HD, but not the other foxtel channels, BTW this is on cable.

A little while back they were breaking up every few seconds and losing signal, after a few days this stopped. I guessed that foxtel was having trouble with their feed at the time.

However since then I get a small level of picture break up about every 30 sec to a Minute, usually only on small parts of the screen. This is annoying especially when watching sports. But it also seem to effect IQ recording. Probably about 2-3 times during a one hour recording the break up must be sufficient enough to cause recording to stop and skip and this seems to drop 1-2 seconds of the recording. Really annoying. Again this is only on the FTA channels, everything is perfect on the others.

I also unpowered and recabled the box but it had no effect. Not sure that it should as I would have thought that the video signal would be the same across the full channel range as they are sent out together??

Just curious to see how many if any others are having this problem. May not be easy to notice if you rarely watch any of the FTA stations :-)

[QiZ]

I am also having some level of problems with the FTA channels both standard and HD, but not the other foxtel channels, BTW this is on cable.

A little while back they were breaking up every few seconds and losing signal, after a few days this stopped. I guessed that foxtel was having trouble with their feed at the time.

However since then I get a small level of picture break up about every 30 sec to a Minute, usually only on small parts of the screen. This is annoying especially when watching sports. But it also seem to effect IQ recording. Probably about 2-3 times during a one hour recording the break up must be sufficient enough to cause recording to stop and skip and this seems to drop 1-2 seconds of the recording. Really annoying. Again this is only on the FTA channels, everything is perfect on the others.

I also unpowered and recabled the box but it had no effect. Not sure that it should as I would have thought that the video signal would be the same across the full channel range as they are sent out together??

Just curious to see how many if any others are having this problem. May not be easy to notice if you rarely watch any of the FTA stations :-)

I have been having this problem for a month or so now but only every now and then. It became an issue on the weekend when I could no longer receive these stations at all. Rang foxtel they did the whole re-boot thing, then asked me to loosen and then tighten the foxtel cable and re-boot. This actually worked for a while but has started happening again. It seems when I move the foxtel cable slightly while still watch the FTA station it cuts in and out. I'm guessing the cable and connection are the main cause so will call them again and see what they say.....after another re-boot suggestion no doubt??

[sydmos]

I have been having this problem for a month or so now but only every now and then. It became an issue on the weekend when I could no longer receive these stations at all. Rang foxtel they did the whole re-boot thing, then asked me to loosen and then tighten the foxtel cable and re-boot. This actually worked for a while but has started happening again. It seems when I move the foxtel cable slightly while still watch the FTA station it cuts in and out. I'm guessing the cable and connection are the main cause so will call them again and see what they say.....after another re-boot suggestion no doubt??

I have been pretty slack by not ringing Foxtel because its just so easy to flip to the inbuilt tuner in the TV.

Last night turned to ABC News and got the whole no signal thing a number of times so just flipped to the tuner etc.

I am cable also .

[sydmos]

This week has been crap with the FTA's pixelating so bad I couldnt watch my fave shows so rang last night. Went to Sales first as I didnt want the Tech robot to tell me it was rebooting my IQ.

The tech guy said they had a fix for it and passed me over to the Tech area. The guy said would book someone to come out in over next week. I told him that

Sales said they had a fix ?

So he got me to unplug power to IQ . The unscrew the cable into IQ then put it back in then plug in power. It rebooted itself and last night was able to

watch shows without it pixelating.

So if anyone else is having the same problem try that first.

Still have the tech booked for a week Sat as back up. They said to just cancel it a few days prior if its been working OK.

[Outstrungone]

While watching lost last week the audio kept cutting out.

[qurious]

While watching lost last week the audio kept cutting out.

I have had the break up problem since they upgraded to the new platform in october/november

it really gives me the shits

anyone who magaes to sort it properly please let us all know what they did to rectify

PS - Foxtel customer service is the worst of anything.

[jimmyyy]

stupid question probably, but HOW do i unscrew it??? I've tried everything and the cable won't come out...

[sydmos]

I have had the break up problem since they upgraded to the new platform in october/november

it really gives me the shits

anyone who magaes to sort it properly please let us all know what they did to rectify

PS - Foxtel customer service is the worst of anything.

Same here

and like other poster with Lost problem , I then rang Foxtel and that was the fix they gave me. So far so good. I have the tech booked for Sat

so will see how this week goes.

Jimmyyy I couldnt unscrew from the IQ as they put a filter on in last year because of pixelating on all channels..... so he told me to unscrew from the wall

which was a bit hard but managed to do. Try that one. Then screw it back in and then plug in the power.

Good luck ! if it doesnt work then give Foxtel a ring. Have no idea what the tech would do my end though ?

[jimmyyy]

Same here

and like other poster with Lost problem , I then rang Foxtel and that was the fix they gave me. So far so good. I have the tech booked for Sat

so will see how this week goes.

Jimmyyy I couldnt unscrew from the IQ as they put a filter on in last year because of pixelating on all channels..... so he told me to unscrew from the wall

which was a bit hard but managed to do. Try that one. Then screw it back in and then plug in the power.

Good luck ! if it doesnt work then give Foxtel a ring. Have no idea what the tech would do my end though ?

it's too screwed in... and the tech was the one who screwed up in the first place... before him i had +2 signal... now -8

[dlb99]

Why would unscrewing/rescrewing the cable make any difference?

It's ONLY the free-to-air stations that are breaking up; the Foxtel stations are mostly fine (except for the odd overseas dodgy satellite feed glitch every now and again).

I too have this frequent free-to-air breakup issue, and it's a huge pain in the a****

Foxtel have f***ed something up at their end when they grab the free-to-air signal and retransmit. Too many customers are having this issue; it's not a cable problem at the customer site.....it's a FOXTEL BUG!!!!

WAKEUP FOXTEL AND FIX THIS ISSUE YOU CLOWNS!!!!!!!

Watching Lost was painful; channel 9 breaks up and skips forward all the time. It's crap and has been crap since last year.

Dennis.

[dlb99]

Why would unscrewing/rescrewing the cable make any difference?

Just to answer my question, over the past few months I've done the unscrew/rescrew thing a few times due to recabling my home theater. It does NOT fix the channel 2/7/9/10/SBS breakup issues.

Why would it? It's Foxtel who have stuffed up the retransmission of the FTA stations (at least on cable). Foxtel have to fix this issue at their end.

Dennis

[sydmos]

Why would unscrewing/rescrewing the cable make any difference?

It's ONLY the free-to-air stations that are breaking up; the Foxtel stations are mostly fine (except for the odd overseas dodgy satellite feed glitch every now and again).

I too have this frequent free-to-air breakup issue, and it's a huge pain in the a****

Foxtel have f***ed something up at their end when they grab the free-to-air signal and retransmit. Too many customers are having this issue; it's not a cable problem at the customer site.....it's a FOXTEL BUG!!!!

WAKEUP FOXTEL AND FIX THIS ISSUE YOU CLOWNS!!!!!!!

Watching Lost was painful; channel 9 breaks up and skips forward all the time. It's crap and has been crap since last year.

Dennis.

I have no idea why.

Maybe its the placebo effect but since doing it my FTA's have been fine. That said I still have the tech booked for this Sat and only after I have watched

Lost/Stargate/Heroes and a couple of other shows on the FTA's will I cancel him. I watched Ch 7 last night and absolutely perfect ( touch wood ).

The Sales guy said they had a fix and put me through. They said unplug then unscrew then screw back in then put back in power plug. It restarted and all was fine.

Did you try it ?

[dlb99]

The issue is generally the model of STU you have or on satellite platform its the stu and dish alignment. Phone foxtel and book a service call instead of whining bout it!

I'm on cable, not on sat. My signal strength is usually between -2 to +2 for all four tuners (1-3 bars) and my quality is at max 5 bars constantly.

Hence, what will a service tech callout actually achieve? With FTA stations I get breakup about [1-3] times per hour (usually about 1-3 seconds goes missing)......but some days I have no issue (this is rare) and other days I have more (again this is rare). What would I show the tech? A random breakup on an IQ2 recording?

Rememeber, it's only the FTA stations effected......since it's only the FTA stations how can the fault be at my end (cable/box/etc)? I think a service tech would be useless.

If the problem is at my end then why are the Foxtel stations uneffected? It has ALL the hallmarks of a retransmit problem at Foxtel (unless I am missing something obvious). I believe the following post to be nearer to the truth:

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtop...p;#entry1437010

Again I think Foxtel are at fault. A service tech call will achieve nothing IMO.

Dennis.

[dlb99]

The Sales guy said they had a fix and put me through. They said unplug then unscrew then screw back in then put back in power plug. It restarted and all was fine.

Did you try it ?

Yes, I've done that.

It doesn't fix the issue........noting, I truly believe the issue is at Foxtel's end....they are stuffing up the FTA stations somehow.

There's nothing wrong with my box as the Foxtel stations are fine. A Foxtel station or a FTA station should be indestinguishable by my Foxtel IQ2, yet it's only the FTA stations that breakup.

Dennis.

[sydmos]

Well currently watchint Ch 7.

I am on cable.

Will post again at the end of the week.

Maybe if someone else watches Lost/Stargate/Heroes we can compare notes then.

But so far all is fine.

[dlb99]

Well currently watchint Ch 7.

I am on cable.

Will post again at the end of the week.

Maybe if someone else watches Lost/Stargate/Heroes we can compare notes then.

But so far all is fine.

Last night was actually a good (non-breakup) night: Top Gear on Nine and Grey's Anatomy on Seven where breakup free.

But the night before 30 Rock on Seven had 3 breakups in half an hour (grrrr).

It's soo frustrating especially since the native Foxtel stations like Arena/Fox8/Comedy/ESPN are perfectly fine.

Dennis.

[loony]

I truly believe the issue is at Foxtel's end....they are stuffing up the FTA stations somehow.

Id think it is.

I have been noticing the same thing recently

[dlb99]

Id think it is.

I have been noticing the same thing recently

Thanks Loon, it's reassuring to read others are in the same boat; no amount of unplugging/replugging cables will fix this.

Let's hope "eventually" Foxtel clears this FTA retransmission glitch (i.e. fixes their FTA frequency changes from last year).

Dennis.

[sydmos]

OK

well as an fyi watched 20mins of some japanese game show thing and now Lost. So far all perfect.

For whatever reason maybe the fix works for some and not others.

Will keep the tech booked and cancel Fri if its still good.

[dlb99]

OK

well as an fyi watched 20mins of some japanese game show thing and now Lost. So far all perfect.

For whatever reason maybe the fix works for some and not others.

Will keep the tech booked and cancel Fri if its still good.

No, I don't think the fix helped you (placebo effect).

I too watched Lost last night and it was breakup free for me. Maybe, just maybe Foxtel may have fixed this issue in the last night or two? Noting that Lost the previous week was a disaster (as multiple people including me noted). Not last night.

I've had two breakup free nights in a row. Maybe it's just luck. If I get multiple weeks of non FTA breakups then I'll consider this issue fixed. I'll be watching and noting.

Dennis.

[sydmos]

No, I don't think the fix helped you (placebo effect).

I too watched Lost last night and it was breakup free for me. Maybe, just maybe Foxtel may have fixed this issue in the last night or two? Noting that Lost the previous week was a disaster (as multiple people including me noted). Not last night.

I've had two breakup free nights in a row. Maybe it's just luck. If I get multiple weeks of non FTA breakups then I'll consider this issue fixed. I'll be watching and noting.

Dennis.

Fingers crossed !