View Full Version : Anyone getting ticked off with sky?!
2 main complaints I have at the moment:
1. I've got Game of Thrones on series link record (awesome by the way). It's now 'failed' due to technical problems twice...why? A prob with my box or is it a common sky failure?
2. Skyplayer - you download a show/movie and when playing it back, within 5 minutes the picture and audio are out of sync and it makes me wanna tear my hair out!
What's the deal with these issues, it's not like we're paying them in peanuts. Anyone have similar problems/complaints?
DarrenSV650S
30-05-11, 12:11 AM
It's the boxes, they're terrible. They really need to get it sorted. Mine sometimes wont let me watch any channel saying that no signal is being received, yet the sky box in the other room which runs off the same dish is working fine. And on some recordings the audio goes silent for a second every minute or so, which gets really annoying after a while.
Also got Game of Thrones series link - no problems.
Occasionally get sync problems but just stop it and start again, sorted.
Had a weird one a few times lately. Sound but just the blue screen of death. change channel, then back usually sorts it.
daveyrach
30-05-11, 07:30 AM
I had problems with my box just after it was out of warranty and strangely after sky had phoned on numerous occasions asking me to buy an extended warranty, i refused then the box stopped working, coincidence? I eventually got the box replaced under warranty.
Funny think is i have had similar calls from sky recently about my modem not performing as it should and have i though about an extended warranty even though it is working fine, now it drops it connection all the time even tho it is connected via ethernet cable, quick reset sorts it.
Is it possible sky can implant faults in there equipment wirelessly?
I must admit after one year my box now does the sound drop and sync thing. Plus the router keeps needing to be reset when playing COD
DJFridge
30-05-11, 08:31 AM
It's the boxes, they're terrible. They really need to get it sorted. Mine sometimes wont let me watch any channel saying that no signal is being received, yet the sky box in the other room which runs off the same dish is working fine. And on some recordings the audio goes silent for a second every minute or so, which gets really annoying after a while.
I have to admit that I haven't gone near Sky+. We do all our recording on DVD recorders - that way we can take it on holiday with us to watch. We also only plug them in to a phone line if specifically asked to. That way they don't get "updated" without our knowledge. We have Darren's problem with the boxes though - both on the same dish but one will suddenly claim there isn't a signal. Switching it off doesn't help either - you actually have to pull out the mains lead for 10 seconds and start again.:smt072
timwilky
30-05-11, 08:41 AM
To have sky would be brilliant, I am seriously ticked off with virgin. Picture quality is cr@p, pixelating, stalling and dropping out on the majority of channels.
Indian call centre who say, I can see your signal Mr Wilkinson, please power off your set top box and all will be well. No it isn't. It hasn't been since your technician fixed my neighbours pixellating stalling signal. (10 bob says he swapped our connections)
dizzyblonde
30-05-11, 08:48 AM
Sky is normal here.
In that I mean, live on the top of a hill, in a completely unsheltered place, with a dish on your chimney, it goes off in heavy rain, goes off in high winds, goes off in a thunderstorm, blue screen between channels until it decides to give you a picture. Best one is when it gives you big green pixels and the sound is still going on.
Ask for a description of what it is your watching...no programme available, but wait, ahhh there it is.
Normal behaviour here.
husky03
30-05-11, 09:37 AM
had probs both sky and virgin-with virgin at the moment and if the tv is on stand by or switch off it won't record, there both crap but have the monopoly.
Bluefish
30-05-11, 10:51 AM
I remember now why we went virgin lol, not had half as many probs, in fact the only problem we have is from a dodgy scart lead.
DarrenSV650S
30-05-11, 11:10 AM
I have to admit that I haven't gone near Sky+. We do all our recording on DVD recorders - that way we can take it on holiday with us to watch. We also only plug them in to a phone line if specifically asked to. That way they don't get "updated" without our knowledge. We have Darren's problem with the boxes though - both on the same dish but one will suddenly claim there isn't a signal. Switching it off doesn't help either - you actually have to pull out the mains lead for 10 seconds and start again.:smt072
It used to be that only my box was plugged in to the phone line, just because I actually have a phone socket near my box. But sky started sending letters, then a couple of months ago they charged £170 for our 3 boxes instead of the £70 it should have been. So now we have two extension lines going to the 2 other boxes.
They didn't acknowledge that one of them was connected though, even though we could access our sky bills and interactive using the box. So they charged us extra again. They've now finally realised, after a lot of phone calls and emails, that it is actually connected but it's too late to take the £170 off the next bill :rolleyes:
maviczap
30-05-11, 11:20 AM
2 main complaints I have at the moment:
1. I've got Game of Thrones on series link record (awesome by the way). It's now 'failed' due to technical problems twice...why? A prob with my box or is it a common sky failure?
2. Skyplayer - you download a show/movie and when playing it back, within 5 minutes the picture and audio are out of sync and it makes me wanna tear my hair out!
What's the deal with these issues, it's not like we're paying them in peanuts. Anyone have similar problems/complaints?
Have you updated the firmware lately? Our Sky man said keep it up to date and occasionally format the hard drive.
Having said that, there are a lot of issues with the boxes, and Sky's pathetic customer service when it comes to repairing them, despite the money we pay them
Sky is normal here.
In that I mean, live on the top of a hill, in a completely unsheltered place, with a dish on your chimney, it goes off in heavy rain, goes off in high winds, goes off in a thunderstorm, blue screen between channels until it decides to give you a picture. Best one is when it gives you big green pixels and the sound is still going on.
Ask for a description of what it is your watching...no programme available, but wait, ahhh there it is.
Normal behaviour here.
They all do that madam :D
Especially if you have one of them collander 'cloud spotting' Sky dishes.
Replace it with a proper solid satellite dish and a lot of these problems will disapear.
Easy way to see this is to go into the menu and see what your signal quality & strength are.
I only loose my signal in really heavy rain
Also the signal can dip, if the dish is even a tiny bit out. When I had Sky+ installed from normal Sky, the engineer asked me to slip a washer under the arm that holds the LNB. You could see the difference in before and after on the systems signal strength meter
Have you updated the firmware lately? Our Sky man said keep it up to date and occasionally format the hard drive.
Na not done either. So it doesn't update automatically?
I presume formatting hard drive will mean all my recorded stuff will go.
maviczap
30-05-11, 03:10 PM
Na not done either. So it doesn't update automatically?
I presume formatting hard drive will mean all my recorded stuff will go.
It should do if its connected to a phone line. If not you can 'force' the box to do one, although I can't remember how :confused:
Yep formatting the drive will wipe all you stuff.:(
But maybe no need, if all thats needed is a firmware update?
maviczap
30-05-11, 03:14 PM
i think this was the Sky forum i looked up some stuff on. its not the official one!
http://www.skyuser.co.uk/
Thanks for that, will give it a go!
maviczap
30-05-11, 03:33 PM
2 main complaints I have at the moment:
1. I've got Game of Thrones on series link record (awesome by the way). It's now 'failed' due to technical problems twice...why? A prob with my box or is it a common sky failure?
What's the deal with these issues, it's not like we're paying them in peanuts. Anyone have similar problems/complaints?
Reading on this site could be your PSU on the way out if you're future recordings are failing
http://www.satcure.com/accs/page12.htm#psukit
Seems its issues with one of the resistors, which then affects your PSU
But do the firmware upgrade first, as that may cure your problems
Man I hope not, this is the second (or third?!) HD box we've been through I think, pathetic reliability.
maviczap
30-05-11, 03:49 PM
Man I hope not, this is the second (or third?!) HD box we've been through I think, pathetic reliability.
Seems to be a common problem I'm afraid
maviczap
30-05-11, 04:07 PM
I wish there was a viable alternative to Sky, but there isn't.
I only bought my original Sky system for Eurosport, which is free to air on analogue satellite, but its not on digital :smt072. Well not with English commentary and the analogue signal will be switch off at some point
Having said that, there are a lot of issues with the boxes, and Sky's pathetic customer service when it comes to repairing them, despite the money we pay them
Had problems a few months back and rang in. Luckily got one of the 'proper' techinicians who was doing some o/t rather than a numpty reading from a script. Brilliant! And he must love me coz he's rang back a couple of times, without me asking for help, to do some updates.
maviczap
30-05-11, 04:51 PM
Had problems a few months back and rang in. Luckily got one of the 'proper' techinicians who was doing some o/t rather than a numpty reading from a script. Brilliant! And he must love me coz he's rang back a couple of times, without me asking for help, to do some updates.
Yep, they're always better than the script monkey's :p
aaron020873
30-05-11, 05:01 PM
i've just read through this thread and found it interesting, we have never had a problem with our sky plus box except for the usual heavy rain/bad weather un reliability, but we have just been away for a week and the wife (not me honest) put the soaps on series link to record and i've noticed that alot of the problems that have been described have happened on the recordings, so maybe it's something to do with the series link thing.
maviczap
30-05-11, 05:07 PM
I had problems with one of my series recording this week, which only part recorded, but this was down to heavy rain interupting the signal
I wish there was a viable alternative to Sky, but there isn't.
That there's the problem - no real competition so no real incentive to improve their reliability.
maviczap
30-05-11, 05:09 PM
yep
kwak zzr
30-05-11, 05:30 PM
one more price rise and mines going back.
thefallenangel
31-05-11, 11:15 AM
Price rise is coming in for july!
Got a communal dish and don't lose signal at all. TBH it's okay but the service is expensive for what it is. Being charged £24 for the movies and sports is a joke.
Oh and anyone with time on their hands, phone and complain to sky as they are giving movies free for a month so see if a phone call will save you a few quid.
I had Sky for the last 5 years and Sky HD for the last 2 and had enough of them. The boxes are very unreliable, especially the PSUs. Since my HD box was out of warranty it was locking itself almost daily, missing signal and recording unwanted programs. I opened it to inspect the PSU and about 6 of the cheap capacitors were leaking and others were inflating. Sky wanted £65 for a refurbished box after I payed £80+ bills every month for more than 2 years.
So I canceled by subscription, bought a new set of Japanese capacitors for £25 and fixed the PSU myself. The box and original dish now work perfectly as a FreeSat PVR with 100+ free channels and some of them in HD (they don't tell you than when you cancel). For series and movies, I moved underground to Usenet.
As for Sky Movies Semi-HD ... who really wants to pay premium for such outdated content.
Their monopoly is the only reson that people poke up with it.
We only have BT vision as an alternative out in the sticks were we live.:(
thefallenangel
31-05-11, 03:01 PM
I think Virgin broadband on the fibre optic is about the best out there but anyone with a decent internet connection, i don't understand why they don't just watch all the football on firstrow and site like that. However as i have a 0.5mb connection i have to make do with TV.
maviczap
31-05-11, 07:20 PM
I think Virgin broadband on the fibre optic is about the best out there but anyone with a decent internet connection, i don't understand why they don't just watch all the football on firstrow and site like that. However as i have a 0.5gb connection i have to make do with TV.
All well and good but NTL (pre Virgin) stopped installing the cable before they got to my end of town and there's no prospect of them installing it, so I'd have to have a piece of cable about a half a mile long before I could tap into their service :smt019 So I'm stuck with Sky :smt019
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