Blurry/fuzzy picture

[PhilipB82]

Hello

I'm sorry for another blurry picture post as I've noticed there's quite a few! I have read through some but haven't really found a solution as why it's happening. Therefore I wish to share my experience and see if anybody else has experienced the same.

I have the black box which is currently wired via ethernet to a powerline adapter. My router is at the opposite end of the house, its not a big house but the downstairs is an 'L'  shape. The signal in the living room is still OK though. When performing a WiFi connection check on the now box it sometimes had the red x and a message about low signal. However other times it would pass the tests with a green tick. Anyway I decided to connect with an ethernet cable from a WiFi adapter which now gives an excellent signal to the box. With ethernet I am getting speeds of around 55mbps. With the WiFi adapter near by its usually no less than 40mbps. I sometimes experience blurry pictures on live TV mainly Sky Sports News but happens on GOLD and others too. However when watching anything from boxsets it doesn't do it apart from a couple of buffers but picture is fine. Last night I watched a film from Sky Store - perfect. The apps seem fine including YouTube when I've used them. I've lowered my bitrate to 2.0 as suggested in another post I've read so I will see what happens. Tomorrow I want to watch my football team on Sky Sports but am dreading it if the picture breaks up.

I've even done a hard reset but no change. However I do notice that the box does get a little warm on top.... 

So as I have my box wired it can't be a signal problem?

As I'm getting around 55mbps speed, surely it can't be a speed issue?

So does that rule out my Internet connection or could it still be the cause?

Faulty box? 

I'd appreciate your help 👍

Thanks

Philip

[RoyB]

@PhilipB82 

WiFi Extender or powerline adaptors?

‘s’ because these come in pairs, and you haven’t mentioned one at the router end.

Your black box will have all sorts of other services on it - BBC iPlayer and the like. Are these blurry?

I have all sorts of NowTV devices, but the only place I see a blurry picture from NowTV is on my (pin-sharp) iMac. I put this down to the Mac player...

[PhilipB82]

Hi

Powerline adapters, I have 1 connected to the router and 1 to NOW box.

I very rarely use catch up services on my box but when I have they seemed to play OK. 

Just watching football on Sky Sports now, as soon as I put it on it buffered then went pixelated (better word to describe my issue). However I went back onto the home screen and since returning to the football its been fine. At the moment it's set at 'automatic' bitrate. Yesterday though I watched a whole match uninterrupted on bitrate 2.0, don't know if that's a coincidence.... However saying that I watched more content on Sky sports news and 1 half of a football match on 'Automatic' bitrate.. 😕

Boxsets buffer rarely but never go pixelated. Watched 2 Sky Store films over the weekend and they played perfectly - no buffering at all.

Regards 

Philip

[PhilipB82]

Just to add, the cable that is connected to the NOW box is a cat 6. However the cable that is connected to the router is only a cat 5 which I understand is slow. Would it be worth upgrading that cable to cat 6 or higher?

Philip

[RoyB]

@PhilipB82 

Cat 5 is plenty fast enough for the usage.

But Cat 6 and Cat 6A offer better crosstalk performance, though over a short length the differences, if any, would be minuscule.

[PhilipB82]

Right, a little update... 

I've disconnected the powerline adapters as they didn't really solve my problem, therefore I've gone back to using WiFi. Yesterday I watched 2 movies from the boxsets and they played perfectly. However I then watched darts on Sky sports and it went blurry/pixelated on and off 🙄

@RoyB I watched live TV via BBC iplayer and that was fine. Also watched an on demand programme on UKTV player, again absolutely fine.

I also have a Freeview Play Recorder and I never experience any blurry/pixelated images on catch up or YouTube etc. It very rarely buffers.

One more thing, sometimes when doing a connection test on the now box it may come up with an X. However when checking again it will give a tick. Is the box at fault? I was wondering, if the Internet connection and/or speed was that poor to give me a decent picture, why is my Freeview box fine.. 🤔 I'm considering trying a now stick next.

Philip

[RoyB]

@PhilipB82 

A faulty box is a possibility, though if other streaming services on the box work OK, this would tend to indicate not.

Sky Sports seems to be the problematic service, when someone has problems with NowTV blurring and pixelating. I wonder why.... It’s live? Its FPS is marginal?

But a Stick is not too big an investment, and might grace another TV you have in the future,

[PhilipB82]

@RoyB

Earlier I put on Sky sports via my mobile app and on the NOW box at the same time. The picture went blurry on the NOW box but not on the mobile app. Same when I flicked over to GOLD channel. Could this mean anything... 🤔 

I appreciate your help 👍