[VU+ Ultimo4K] Lots of dropped frames on BOTH dishes even though both are perfectly aligned

[SkyFan]

I've got both a Vu+ Duo4K and Vu+ Ultimo4K box on the same build number. Each box is attached to a different dish pointing to 28.2 East. I'm in Dumfries, South West Scotland.

Since at least a couple of weeks ago, on BOTH dishes I'm getting a LOT of dropped frames on Channel 5 every day of the week on programmes such as Jeremy Vine from 9.15am-12.15am. I'm talking about an hour of lost footage. This happened on Feb 1-3. On Feb 4-Feb 9 I was only getting about 30 dropped frames or so but that's still a missing part of the programme. I've also got under 30 dropped frames or so in some ITV caps of This Morning from 10am-12.30pm.

I had a Sky engineer come to fix the alignment of my dishes today but he said they were already aligned! So I don't know what's causing these dropped frames? Any suggestions? Would installing a more recent image or switching the box off at the wall switch and back on again fix the issue?

 

[Willo3092]

I've been having the same problem with a few channel 5 recordings.
Pretty sure it's their end rather than mine.
Some on the sky forum have had problems:

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky/Channel-5-freezes-on-Sky/td-p/3911480

 

[SkyFan]

Thanks. That's a relief. Was starting to worry.

Regardless, even before the Channel 5 issue I've noticed that the dropped frames issue is common on linux satellite receivers such as VU+ boxes. Yet dropped frames never seem to happen on Sky even when both boxes are attached to the same dish. Sky seems to have a much higher tolerance for the dish being knocked out of alignment than VU+ boxes do. It takes a lot more for a misaligned dish to cause a problem on Sky and when it does Sky shows a "loss of signal" screen on the box and won't let you go into the TV guide or anything. The loss of signal screen is rare on Sky.

Checked that Sky thread but it's not specfic to what's causing the problem. Any idea what the problems are with Channel 5? Is Channel 5's transmitter not working or something?

 

[ccs]

Maybe this thread needs taking into account.. https://www.world-of-satellite.com/...ect-Sky-Q-and-Freesat-4K-box-to-the-same-dish

What did you end up doing?

 

[SkyFan]

I ended up getting a Hybrid LNB for 1 dish to get Sky Q and freesat on the same dish. But ended up downgrading back to Sky+ HD because Sky Q sucks. So I have Universal LNBs on both dishes again.

 

[Joe_90]

Regarding Channel 5 (HD version in my case) - the other half records Home&Away and Neighbours each day. Recently (past week) I've seen the recording freeze on playback. Jumping back 15 seconds will restart playback but it will freeze again at the same spot. The only solution is to jump forward 15 seconds and playback will resume. It might stop again or continue right to the end. I noticed the progress position bar on my GB Quad+ LCD jumping backwards and forwards during this time. It settles down eventually and the actual playback is not affected. Nothing in the debug log other than the key presses to jump backwards and forwards in the playback stream.

I initially suspected the HDD as it's six years in the machine, but no other recordings affected - only CH5 HD. Strange, but I think it might be something in the CH5 playout stream. I looked at the Sky forum posts linked in Willo's post #2 above and it seem like it might be a broadcaster problem.

 

[SkyFan]

Easiest way to test for dropped frames without watching the whole video is to save the video in VideoRedo or if the program crashes then use VideoRedo again but use the Quickstream fix option. Either way, if the completion window mentions any frames were removed then there's a problem with the broadcast or your dish is out of alignment. Before saving the video, delete the log then after saving the video look at the log then search for "sync" or "frames removed" and it will tell you at what timepoints in the video that frames were removed. That way if frames were removed during commercials then it doesn't matter but if they were removed in the programme then you may want to download a replacement from on demand iPlayer or cap an on demand download from your Sky box. A few times I've had a whole hour or so of video removed from Jeremy Vine on Channel 5 after saving it in VideoRedo - likely a problem with the broadcast.

 

[ccs]

A few times I've had a whole hour or so of video removed from Jeremy Vine on Channel 5 after saving it in VideoRedo - likely a problem with the broadcast.

Surely, a blessing in disguise?