New Pro Box pixillating and dropping

[SusanEL]

My new Pro Box intermittently is pixillating programmes.  BBC channels  are worst - I get a message saying try another channel then return which often works but I have missed several sentences. I have sometimes  had to switch off hub and router, then wait and switch back on to get the programme back.  Other channels are not as bad but it sometimes drops out for a few moments and then returns. On any programme this can be live or a recording - which can mean the whole recording stops with a pixillated screen.  I am currently using the old YouView box with a spare TV and aerial connection in another room, not wired broadband, and have no problems at all watching or recording.  I use the spare TV for all BBC channel recordings now, especially as Pro Box sends me to watch through the App. I have no idea if the problem affects Netflix as I haven't used that yet (and didn't want it anyway but had no choice when I renewed my BT!)

[DarrenDev]

Your TV Box Pro is in Internet mode, meaning it receives its channels via your broadband.

How is your TV Box connected to your hub?  I can see it says it's connected with an ethernet cable, but it's not reporting a full speed connection which suggests you have something else plugged in between them?  Maybe powerline adapters?  I suspect it's this connection between them that is lowering the quality of the connection, causing the picture to break up.

[SusanEL]

There is a Powerline box, with 3 lights, upstairs where the feed comes into the house. There is a matching box downstairs beside where the TV is.  I never had any problem with the Youview box with this set up for the previous 5 years since I moved here and a BT engineer set the system up.  Is it relevant that I use the TV with subtitles?  These sometimes go off eg if I do the recommended "switch to another channel then back" or fast forward through a recording

[DarrenDev]

Subtitles aren't relevent.

As you were using your TV aerial with the previous box, you would only have experienced this issue on subscription channels.  I can see you've never had the HD add-on for your subscription before, so it's likely that the channels would always have been within the capacity that the powerline adapters were delivering - no issue would have been seen.

You're now using the internet to stream Freeview TV channels, and many of them are provided in HD.  This will be pushing the bandwidth requirements higher, and it sounds like your powerline adapters are struggling to keep up.

If you still have the TV aerial available at the TV Box Pro, then this is likely to be the simplest fix - connect the TV aerial and then factory reset the TV Box Pro.  You'll go back to exactly what you had working before.  If the aerial isn't there anymore, or you prefer staying in internet mode, then you're likely to need an upgrade on the powerline adapters you're using.  You'd need to give the helpdesk a call for that.

[SusanEL]

I had a new aerial fitted earlier this year.  It plugs directly into the back of the Probox, along with the purple HDMI, yellow to Powerline and power cable.  The powerline is plugged into the wall socket but the downstairs and upstairs electric sockets are on different circuits.  The Pro box power is on an extension from a separate wall socket

If I did use Pro Box via the aerial wouldn't I lose access to everything like iplayer, sounds etc?

Would using the reset button on the side of the Pro Box work as an alternative to switching off and on the power to Box and Powerline?

The Netgear powerline boxes say AV500. What would an upgraded powerline be?

Thanks for all your help so far

[DarrenDev]

Having the powerline adapters connected directly into wall sockets means you're already getting the best out of them that you can, however the separate circuits may be impacting their performance.

Switching to aerial would only affect the Freeview channels.  You'd still keep the powerline adapters connected for all the apps, and they're capable of adapting to the slower network conditions.  It's only the channels delivered over the internet that aren't able to adapt to lower speeds - they either work, pixelate, or fail completely.

The powerline adapters you have only use 2 of the wires in your home, and squeeze as much data through them as possible.  Newer models use all 3 wires, providing more capacity and increased resilience - I'm not sure what model would be provided by the helpdesk if you called.

[SusanEL]

Thanks.  I'll see what the helpdesk says.

Re Factory reset - sorry to be dense, but do I do that by pressing the reset button on the side of the box?
Or is via the settings on the screen?

[DarrenDev]

Use the one from the settings menu. It'll give the best experience. Be sure to read the messages on screen to help you get through it.

[SusanEL · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your help
I contacted the helpdesk.  They checked my connection and  reckon I need a higher rated Ethernet cable:
     " I would recommend replacing the current cable with a Cat5e, Cat6, or higher-rated Ethernet cable, as these are designed to support speeds of up to 1 Gbps and beyond."

They are sending me a Cat5e Red one in the post.

Thanks

[DarrenDev]

On the powerline adapters there's an exact model number - usually beginning XAV. Could you please confirm which model you have? 

Both ends of your connection are reporting a slow speed, so I'd made the assumption you had the lower model. If you do, changing the cable won't make a difference.

If you have the better model then both cables need to be replaced (as both the cable to the hub and the cable to the TV Box are reporting slow).