Sky Q Dolby Digital constant dropouts

[Hawkmoon]

Just noticed that when I watch a movie on Sky Q recorded to the box I get a brief 1-second sound dropout on my 5.1 system connected via optical/toslink roughly every 2-3 mins. Went on the Sky forums expecting to find an easy fix, only to find numerous ongoing threads and discover this is an ongoing issue for YEARS ?! With no fix !! I'm shocked What Hi Fi and other websites/mags recommend Sky Q if this is ongoing. Surely many users want to run digital surround sound off their Sky Q boxes? Here is an example ongoing thread on the topic - Sound cutting out - Page 112 - Sky Community

 

[buzz_lightclick]

I’ve noticed audio drop outs when watching films on Sky Cinema on Sky Q connected to my amp via HDMI. Sometimes it’s worse than others.

 

[ThisIsJimmy]

hmmmm that thread doesn't surprise me . I have a number of friends who have been complaining since they switched to Sky Q . For them issues are their internet isn't big enough and their is too much demand on their internet connection.

Sky Q uses your internet connection rather than a Satelite LV. Depending on your internet speed, stream resolution, router utilization or number of people using the internet you may encounter drops or streaming issues. Although 20+ mb sounds alot, when you are trying to watch a movie/TV, have kids playing on an xbox/playstation and have others with laptops on etc. it doesn't go very far. I'd suggest only getting Sky-Q if you have at least 50mb FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) internet speeds or above if you are in a data heavy household. For those with FTTP (Fibre to the Premesis) you have the best chance of streaming success as you have no copper last mile.

 

[giggsy1977]

The sound dropout occurs when watching live TV, although I only tend to get it on channel 302 (sky movies). One workaround I have heard is to connect via optical rather than HDMI. I haven't tried it myself however!

 

[SparkyOnTv]

Sky Q is not fit for purpose. I lost all respect for What HiFi when they gave this piece of crud a five star review. Sound drop-outs, unusable apps, noisy hard drives, no frame rate matching and poor picture quality. It really is awful.

 

[Bungle73]

Had Sky Q a few months, and never had a problem with it. I think it's excellent tbh. The only pita is that, unlike older boxes, you can't interact with the box using the app without coughing up more money to Sky.

Sky Q uses your internet connection rather than a Satelite

Not sure what that means? Sky Q is a satellite receiver, just like all previous versions of Sky. It only uses the internet when you download something, or use an app afaik.

 

[ThisIsJimmy]

Not sure what that means? Sky Q is a satellite receiver, just like all previous versions of Sky. It only uses the internet when you download something, or use an app afaik.

Before christmas (around Black Friday) Sky were doing a series of packages that were purely internet only. I thought it was rather weird as well as I'd thought the above was the case with the Sky Q boxes. Having looked into it now, the only proper 'sky' implementation of Sky over the internet is marketed under the Sky X banner (I believe Italy is the only country in Europe to properly have this yet). on checking further, it appears to have been in essence a NOW TV package under the Sky Q moniker. So essentially 'internet only' for the Now TV channel listings.

Coming up to my TV renewal, i'm not sure what i'm going to do now. I've been with BT for several years, but they aren't doing TV themselves anymore other than their sport channels, and are relying on Now TV for all the entertainment content. Because of this they are also charging alot more for less content than i have now.

 

[thehud]

It has nothing to do with wifi or the HDMI, optical connections etc. It is a problem with the Sky Q box itself and has been for a very long time. Sky promised to fix it with a firmware update years ago but since then have done absolutely nothing. I also have Freeview and Freesat. No sound problems at all. Likewise, there were never any problems with our old Sky HD box.

It's a disgrace that Sky has been able to get away with this for so long and even worse, a respected publication such as What Hi-Fi has not let people know about it.