Problems with pixilation of programmes

[Iamgrandna1]

Can anybody tell me what is going on with bt television?  This happened BEFORE the current bad weather.  We are having real problems with television programmes I either try to watch live OR record a programme.  The picture in the television is continually pixilating in and out on a programme.  It is happening with ITV,Channel 5, and other programmes.  Already checked all connections to do with bt box and television connections.  Already done channels re-set,and still the problem is there.  Any ideas what can be done about this?  It is annoying we are paying for a service that does not work!  

[ptrduffy]

Is this only affecting Freeview channels (you mention ITV & Channel 5), or does it also affect streaming channels?

Do you get your Freeview channels via an aerial connection or through the broadband connection?

[Iamgrandna1]

Mostly it is ITV channels,or channel 5,or programmes like Quest Red and Yesterday or Really programmes.  I record them and it ends up a pixilations mess.  Sometimes the recording has shut off because the programne cannot be recorded because of the picture being so pixilated.  We have tried 2 different new aerials like BT engineer said we needed a new aerial.  Still got the same problem after trying both new aerials.    We are paying for a new aerial for extra cost to get nowhere….thinking of changing BT service,as we might be a valued customer,but the problem is STILL not solved and the BT engineer wasn’t very helpful or sympathetic.  We are also fed up of recording a programme to have the end of programmes not recorded,but have read on here it is not BT’s fault - but other services don’t have the same problem as BT for end of recordings not recorded when you have put it on to record automatically!  Fed up to be honest.  We are paying for a service that is just not there.  

[TimCurtis]

@Iamgrandna1 

If you're using the aerial feed for the TV box rather than using IP mode then check the signal quality & strength on the channels most affected and on a couple that are fine.

You want 100% quality and a strength figure in the 85-90% range.

Depends on the results of this check as to what the best approach is.

[Iamgrandna1]

Thank you for replying.  We have done this and found the programmes are well down in their numbers from what they should be.  Sometimes only 4%!  It keeps going up and down the % even when it has been going ok for a while - then it goes haywire for a little while!  

[Hunter2660]

Hmmm. If it fluctuates it could the signal is too strong, (mentioned many times on this forum). What is the picture like on the TV if the aerial is connected direct to the TV, bypassing the BT box?

[TimCurtis]

@Iamgrandna1 

So if you have some channels that appear ok what figures do you get on those?

Also put your postcode into this link TV Channel prediction which can provide some useful info.

[Midnight_Voice]

@Iamgrandna1 

I’m presuming you get this issue on live TV even when you bypass the YouView box and watch your TV directly? If not, try that, to eliminate or confirm that the YouView box may be faulty.

But assuming the problem still occurs direct on a TV:-

So you let two aerial fitters leave after putting up a new aerial without them demonstrating at least a satisfactory signal on your TV, and preferably one on your YouView box as well?

And the second fitter took down what he must have known was a perfectly good new aerial, and didn’t comment on it?

And nobody has unplugged your masthead amplifier, either in the loft, or, if there’s no mains up there, via a feeder amp in the aerial chain somewhere? (People have been known to disconnect these because they don’t know what they are for, or to plug a bedroom light in or some such, and never join up the dots when the TV reception suddenly goes into the toilet).

Or they break the aerial chain somewhere, by unplugging a connection, or rewiring a TV socket, or disturbing the wiring, or putting a nail through the cable, or using a home-made TV extension lead where they have shorted it internally, or left it open circuit. (A TV signal can jump an air gap, so you still get something, but it will be severely weakened).

Get whoever put the last aerial up to come back and check the lot. If it’s his fault, no charge. If it isn’t, pay for the remedial work and look happy…

[Iamgrandna1]

Hi there,

our aerial - 2 of them have been done by my hubby,who is competent to know how to do an aerial fixing,although he has never been on a course to kearn about it - he kearnt from his father and eldest brother who taught him how to set up an aerial for a television.  He has already put 1 aerial in 1different bedrooms upstairs - the other one might be on wifi,as it is our adult grandaughter’s aerial/television.  The aerial fir our television downstairs living room  is outside our living room fixed to an outside wall,so that the aerial doesn’t fall off the wall,but it isn’t nailed to the wall.  We haven’t tried it through freeview any of the stations.  Why we haven’t is when it was set up at the beginning,we decided to do the programmes through the one player control and not through freeview - instead of using the main other control for finding programmes.  I think you cannot record programmes through freeview if you do this with the one  control.  Put it this way - we only mostly use the smaller control with the blue house button on it to change channels,record programmes etc!  The only time we use the other control is to switch the television on at the beginning of trying to watch the television - then we do everything else with the other control…..

[Midnight_Voice]

@Iamgrandna1 

Those aerial placements don’t sound promising 😢 An aerial should be in the loft, or on the roof, carefully aligned to the nearest transmitter, probably with a masthead amplifier, and distributed to all the TVs in the property.

Unless your hubby is good at heights, and can work safely at them, an outside aerial is a job for the professionals.

But the thing to do, purely as a test, is to unplug the aerial from the YouView box, plug it into the TV, tune the TV, and see what the signal is like on the TV. 

if the channels are all fine on the TV, then it confirms an issue with the YouView box. But if they are no better, or not much better, on the TV, then you have an aerial problem, and nothing to blame the YouView box for.

If you have the Pro box, then if you disconnect the aerial and factory reset it, in Settings, then it will go into IP mode, and give you most of the principal channels over the internet, bypassing any aerial problems.

That might be an option for you, though it won’t give you any of the ‘minor’ Freeview channels.