Blotchy / Blocky Picture On Sports Channels

[Anonymous User]

When watching the sports channels with boost activated the picture has a blotchy / blocky effect. The stream is certainly 1080p and 50fps watching through my now tv stick. The same issue isn't present watching BT Sport through youview or other channels. Its very noticeable on green grass when the camera is panning around and even more so on darker backgrounds. This isn't something I've noticed on the Sky Cinema channels.

Anyone have an idea on the cause or a possible cure? I have a picture of the problem but can't see how to upload it. 

[branflakes]

spent a couple of hours on live chat today, but with no results.

'I would like to inform that as we have tried all troubleshooting steps and still the issue is not resolved. I suspect the NOW TV Stick has gone faulty. 

As the NOW TV Stick is out of warranty I'll suggest you to buy a new NOW TV Stick from your end. This is the only resolution possible.'

not exactly the response i was looking for. the thing is, i really am not confident that buying a new nowtv stick will resolve the issue.

not really sure what to do about this now. i do suspect buying a fire stick will solve it, but then i'll lose the ability to pause and rewind.

[C3RBERUS]

Its nothing to do with now tv stick lame excuse, ive tested the following devices over past 4 months:

*apple tv 4k - living room

*now tv stick 1st gen - replaced with apple tv

*now tv stick newer version - bedroom

* tried friends roku premium stick or something

*amazon fire tv stick 4k

all of which has the blocky ness happening, tried wifi and hard wired where possible, have fibre speed at around 80mb. Its blatantly now tvs end. Far to many users having same issue and they always blame the devices. They need to sort this out and up there game as all other streaming services are offering better quality at a much cheaper price

[Anonymous User]

@C3RBERUS 

Beat me too it and confirmed what i thought, the problem is clearly with the NowTV source stream.

[branflakes]

i don't get the issue when using NowTV player on MacOS. sadly it's is only 720p so not an option to hook that up to the tv. 

i think the reason it doesn't appear on the Mac player is that it's a totally different software - for example the pause screen is totally different / non-existent, so the blocky pattern is nowhere to be seen. 

this is why i am leaning towards it being a bug with the nowtv software used on the nowtv stick (and various other apps/devices, but not the MacOS player).

it can't be a coincidence that the blocky pattern is just a more transparent version of what comes up when pausing. this pattern is the bane of my sunday afternoons, lol. i would love to know what it's doing there, whether it's a deliberate design choice for the pause screen that is bleeding into the content, or whether it's not supposed to be there at all. 

[Anonymous User]

I have the exact same issue on both the Apple TV 4K and the built in now tv app on 2 Samsung tv’s. I’ve reset everything, tried every setting possible and the internet speed is definitely not the issue as it’s hard wired via Ethernet to a 1gb connection.

The issue started about 4 months back and is really frustrating as it’s definitely an issue on now tv’s side. 
Going to try and contact the support team again but don’t expect any resolution to be honest.

[C3RBERUS]

I think its an issue that may only be resolved if mention watch dogs or trading standards lol sky will always pass the blame on to someone else

[Anonymous User]

I have the same issue and I have tried everything under the sun with no luck

[Anonymous User]

I even bought another stick and is exactly the same it awful now watching sports

[Anonymous User]

The crazy thing is sky news is fine and when highlights are on the news channel it's not there !!!. Also It disappeared in August and came back in September and been here ever since 🤬🤬🤬

[branflakes]

I can only suggest that we all keep complaining via this page:

https://help.nowtv.com/complaints/tv

one thing i will not do anymore is go through all the troubleshooting steps. i've done it several times over the last 18 months or so to no avail. i have enough evidence, photos and videos of what it looks like, and nothing will make it go away. it's something on their end. 

i'm just going to send a complaint every week until they get so irritated with me that they have to get it sorted. i advise that others do the same.

[Anonymous User]

Also, if you notice the first 4 or 5 seconds the picture is fine then after the first 4 of 5 seconds the screen goes a shade darker and its there, watching football is really annoying now, in fact watching most sports is annoying when the screen pans it's there. The fact first few seconds it isn't there makes it more annoying because it tells me its easily sorted

[branflakes]

@Anonymous User @C3RBERUS @Anonymous User 

it just me that has this problem not appearing on WBA vs MU today? 

first game in ages where there definitively is no blotchy pattern. 

will be interesting to see if it holds for arsenal leeds. am watching on main event. 

terrified to pause the game in case the pattern comes up on the pause screen and then stays put!

[branflakes]

lol, my internet cut out and when i loaded nowtv back up again, the pattern was back 😞

[Anonymous User]

If you back out and go back on it comes back because it was fine for me for
first time in months until I put TV guide on

[Anonymous User]

I’m guessing there’s been no resolution to this problem yet. 
I’ve still got the problem but just on the main camera on football. 
it’s like watching through camouflage netting!  
seems like it’s just when there’s just a majority of one colour. 

[C3RBERUS]

I contacted now tv few days ago sent them video footage of the issue happening. They asked me to do a few things and they said turn down the brightness on my vivid setting 🤣. And use a standard def device dont watch it thru a 4k device e.g apple tv 4k or fire tv stick4k as now tv doesnt support 4k. I was like no as thatll effect my other streaming packages e.g netflix, disney and amazon etc. Secondly had this issue on the now tv stick. They have received the video footage and shared with their other teams (escalated to technical manager) should hear back from them in next couple of days. But ive manage to prove its their stream and not devices etc. Lets see what they have to say, will update a post with their response once i hear from them

[Anonymous User]

@branflakes 

I don't think buying a new NowTV stick will resolve anything. If thats the case then i need 2 new sticks as does SweetBlitz from the other thread. The problem whether it be NowTV source stream, software or hardware will be there regardless.

I guess the first question is will the FireTV Stick solve the problem, if it does then for me at least i would buy one as i value image quality above the ability to pause / rewind.

[Anonymous User]

Been tracking this forum for a while now. I also have the same problem of the weird camouflaged effect. I am watching through an apple tv 4K and a Samsung TV. I have put in a compliant with NOW TV and had the usual responses to check my internet connection or update my apple tv.

I have referred them repeatedly to this forum stating that I am not the only person with this problem. They have now escalated to the ‘technical team’ for investigation, but as per the other replies on here , I’m guessing it won’t help much.

Not sure what else can be done, either cancel NOW TV sports, ask for credit because they are supplying a substandard product or just accept it.

[C3RBERUS]

Same as other replies they are blaming internet connections or devices neither of which cause the issue. Ive sent them two YouTube videos of the issue and ive also mentioned they need to get this sorted or I’ll escalate it to trading standards waiting on a further response 

[Anonymous User]

I also sent them a video which clearly showed the camo effect . They thanked me for the video but they didn’t even mention the problem that could be seen on my tv . It’s like they ignored it and just asked me to check my Wi-Fi signal strength! 

[branflakes]

similar experience. i really gave a good go this year to getting this sorted but it ended in failure once again.

'At this time, your case has already been raised to our Tier 2 team and they have identified that your NOW TV Stick is faulty and the only resolution is to purchase a new device.'

of course I wasn't going to do that when other users have reported the issue on various other devices. 

i will keep following the thread in case there's anything i can do to assist someone else's push to get it sorted, but basically i have given up at this point.