Picture dropping out during streaming, sound continues

[Anonymous User]

Hi all,

Weird one, but wondered if you could help.

We've got two NOW TV boxes, both from summer 2017. One works absolutely fine, the other we have consistent issues with the picture dropping out.

We'll be about half an hour into a programme in the NOW TV app, and then suddenly the picture will go black, but the sound will continue, and my TV will start showing the HDMI input information as it's not receiving a video signal. But sound continues through our soundbar (connected through HDMI ARC from the TV).

Sometimes sound drops out too briefly, but this is rare.

Often the only way to solve it, if it doesn't rectify after a few seconds, is to hit the back button and then go straight back into the programme, this will then solve it for another half hour. The other way is sometimes if you just rewind for five seconds, then hit play, the picture magically restores.

This doesn't happen in any other apps, other than when we're streaming something from NOW TV. Fairly sure it's never happened on live programmes in  NOW TV either, just on demand stuff. iPlayer/All4, everything else all seems totally fine.

The only difference I have noticed between this box and the other one, is that on this one you can *never* hear the fans whirring away. On our box upstairs you often hear the fans working after about half an hour. The other day I went into that secret box menu (Home 5x, FF Play Rew Play FF) and it showed me the temperature of the box which is glitching is around 67C, fans operating at 25%, is that normal?

I've also tried a forced software update from that installer menu, it's made no difference. We have no other issues with this TV and other set top boxes (like my Apple TV) and have tried moving inputs etc. Still a problem.

Any suggestions would be lovely to hear. Don't understand how one is causing such a problem, when the other seems fine.

Is it just dying?

Thanks!

[schnapps]

Hi @Anonymous User 

I would say a temperature of 67 degrees sounds fine to me, where i have seen my box anywhere between 70 to 85 degrees depending on my room temperature and time of the year.

Just has a temporary test have you tried swapping the boxes around onto your two televisions to see if the same symptoms follows the box in question ?

When moving the two boxes leave the HDMI cable on the television it is currently hooked up too.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the speedy reply!

This was going to be my next test. I'll swap them around and see if symptoms persist on the current downstairs TV or if they just move upstairs.

I'll report back.

[Anonymous User]

Update! 

So I tried swapping round the boxes, seems that the box from upstairs is now just giving a purple signal while partially through programmes, but the sound continues. In many ways it’s almost worst as when it happens there’s no way to easily stop it from happening other than closing the All4 app entirely. It happens in many apps, not just the Now app. 

I changed back round the boxes again and now there’s no HDMI output to the TV once it gets to the main menu. It shows the boot screens fine, then once you’re on the home screen it just remains blank, TV is receiving no signal. 

I'm starting to think both boxes are dying! Or my TV is giving out! To be honest though, all of this is a fairly moot point now as we ordered a new LG TV in the Boxing Day sales, so we’ll end up using that to stream Now TV instead using the webOS app. Our current TV is over a decade old and has been showing signs of wear for some time (sometimes restarts while you’re using it for no reason), so maybe it’s that giving up rather than anything else. Although it’s weird that this doesn’t happen with any other inputs at all. 

Who knows what happened here. If there’s any other suggestions then feel free to try me but I can’t guarantee we’ll try them. 

(PS don’t judge my early reply on New Year’s Day morning, I’ve got a stomach bug atm so had a quiet one with some friends last night)

[schnapps]

Hi @Anonymous User 

A purple or blank screen with sound only is usually a symptom of a HDMI handshake issue between the playback device and the television.

Have you tried a different HDMI cable and plugging the box into a different HDMI port directly into the television ?

Also what i would try if the above doesn't help is a factory reset on the box where if you have the nowtv smart box with either the blue or pink logo on the top casing, flip the box over and hold in the small reset button for about 20 to 30 seconds underneath the bottom of the box.

If you manage to factory reset the box and get past the initial setup process by re entering all your details again, then once the box has fully updated go into the box menu under display and see if experimenting with the 720p setting option makes any difference (especially if your television is 10 years old).

[Anonymous User]

Absolutely ignore me! I feel like such an idiot. 

Turns out it’s a problem with the HDMI cable we’re using with the now tv box. It’s only presenting itself on this TV and we diagnosed it by, of all things, if you walk closely near the TV cabinet it must cause the cable to dislodge in a connection and then the picture drops out. 

I did wonder initially if it was a problem with the cable but because the issue only presented itself when we were watching Now TV I thought it might be a bug/box overheating issue. Must have just been a coincidence every time. 

There we are! Thanks so much for all the advice. I’ll bear it in mind if we ever have similar symptoms again!