Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

[markfink777]

I've had Ignite TV running for a month without issues but yesterday my TV signal has started random freezes on the screen and/or audio dropouts for a few seconds at a time. Sometimes a few times per hour and other times every minute or two on all stations I watch. I've rebooted the STB, done a reset, each a few times but it makes no difference. It's connected via ethernet cable to my modem/router (which I've also rebooted) and my Gigabit service itself seems fine.. all my speed tests indicate close to 800Mbit/sec all the time. No one else is on the network when I watch my one and only TV. I've also switched out the ethernet cable in case it was a problem but that made no difference.

I have not yet called Rogers tech support in case there's something else that I can try before I do.

TIA

[markfink777]

Every time I tested it it was on a program like a sitcom or sci-fi show. What did you test it on? I'm thinking if it was a live sporting event or news etc the result might be different.

[mascf1]

Happens on all broadcast types and all channels.

[markfink777]

I just tested it on live NFL football and the freeze happened at the same spot each rewind.

[TECHHEAD]

I beg to differ on it being an internal WiFi issue. 2 of 3 boxes are hard wired.

This issue with the Ignite TV intermittently sputtering, stopping, and audio dropping. So I'm told by who ever I spoke to at Rogers support this is a known issue and they have absolutely no time frame as to when it will be rectified.  Their solution is to replace the modem and or set top boxes but can not guarantee that this will fix the issue.
Ever since the major outage, I have not had stable service with all my services. Ignite, home phone or Internet.
I have gone as far as re flashing the latest firmware on my router

I have been seriously looking at my options to replace Rogers as my provider.

I'd really like to change that "I Plan to Stick Around" moniker that sits under my name.

[markfink777]

"I beg to differ on it being an internal WiFi issue."

I don't think anyone is saying that right now. Read back through the thread and you'll see that Rogers has acknowledged it's a system wide problem affecting many users.

[hesscham]

It drops on any live channel or ON DEMAND content. I was watching a movie On Demand (from Hollywood Suite) and the picture kept going blurry and audio would cut out intermittently. No issues with PVR or third party apps. Internet is working great. I'm sure Rogers will have it sorted this week.

[mascf1]

I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.  They already closed the ticket I have on this issue saying they fixed it when they did nothing!  I had to open another ticket!  Completely incompetent!

[MikeNeri81]

Channels that haven't been working for me for 48+ hours are now... Stable. 4K channels loaded almost instantly. No audio drops. No stutters.

I'm not holding my breath... But this definitely an improvement for *me*; fully understanding that we may not all be in the same boat.

[-G-]

---

@markfink777 wrote:

Perhaps worth noting is that if you rewind whatever is playing after a freeze then those freezes happen again and again in the same spot. No idea what that actually means but perhaps would help Rogers troubleshoot the problem.

---

That's a great observation but I don't think that we can necessarily draw any conclusions from this.

A few years ago, Rogers was making some network changes and it caused severe problems with their service.  I was getting huge latency spikes, massive jitter, packet loss, and sometimes the "CMTS router" would stop forwarding packets for 10 seconds (or more) at a time.  Needless to say, it impacted my Ignite TV service.  Even though network packets may get lost or delayed, streamed data will eventually arrive (whether it arrives late or gets retransmitted or both).  I tried pausing Ignite TV so that I would be 5 minutes behind the live broadcast.  I was hoping that the Ignite set-top boxes would store the intact stream in its buffers and with 5 minutes of buffer depth, the STB would still be able to render the stream without glitching.  Unfortunately, this did not happen.  It appears that when the data arrives late, the STB has already finished trying to process that segment of the stream and has "moved on", so you still get a glitch in the buffer.  As a result, that glitch will still be there when you try to rewind and replay.

Sometimes, Ignite TV audio/video dropouts (or other problems) have nothing to do with your in-home network or with your Ignite Internet service.  The problems occur at the source.  It can be a due to a problem in Rogers' core network, problem with the source feed itself, or problems in the encoding pipeline.  As a result, the corrupted video gets transmitted to you as a perfectly intact clean stream from a networking perspective.  When this happens, if you tune to the same channel on multiple set-top boxes, the set-top boxes receive separate, independent unicast streams but you will see the same glitch in the exact same place on all STBs.  If you record a glitchy program, the glitches will still be there in the same spot when you play it back.  If that same program is available on-demand, and you replay the program on-demand immediately after it airs, you will also see those same glitches in the exact same spots... and so will Roger Support and every other Ignite TV customer.

[-G-]

---

@mascf1 wrote:

Rogers Support are now acknowledging there is a widespread issue impacting many customers, even the person I was speaking to is experiencing the issue.  No estimated time for it to be resolved.

---

Yeah, it happens.  FYI, here's a link to where we have seen similar problems in the past: https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Ignite-TV/Video-amp-audio-freezing-intermittently-on-Hollywood...

[mascf1]

Looks like they fixed the issue, it hasn’t occurred all day.  I’d really like to know what the cause was.

[markfink777]

I noticed that too. I was going to wait until tomorrow before I posted in case I jinxed it.

[mascf1]

Tonight channel 7 (CityTV) is pixelating and channel 34 (TLC) doesn’t even load.  Also happens in the Ignite app on mobile devices.

[markfink777]

I noticed it too. During the football game on CTV2 and randomly on other stations late aft/early evening. Seems to last a minute or two then stops for a while. When I first turned my TV on around noon the guide took a couple of minutes to load.

[CurlingHack]

both cable and internet has been freezing every couple of minutes.  Very irritating, service has to improve or switching providers again.

[Shack1]

Same issue also , intermittent stops to audio and video .
Southwest ont .
Soo much downtime the last few months ! But they want their $225 on time .
Anyone have Quadro's number ?

[RogersMoin]

Hello, Community.

Intermittent freezing of audio/video hinders entertainment. If it's not reported to tech support yet, please send us a private message at @CommunityHelps. We detailed more info about our private messaging in this blog. 

Cheers,

RogersMoin

[SteveK1]

• Experiencing same issue on legacy cable with Channels 55 (Space) and 181 (Fox). I live in Markham. Problem started just recently. Rebooting box had no effect. Same issue on two separate TVs and cable boxes. Rogers apparently sent a tech out today who couldn't locate any problem even though tech I chatted with last night said there appeared to be a problem with my street. Coincidentally, my mother-in-law, who lives in Vaughan, started experiencing issues with her legacy cable around the same time. So glad I recently installed an OTA antenna as a result of previous service disruptions, all of which were due to external factors. I also use a couple of streaming services. Not ready to pull the plug just yet, but inching closer and closer to it. I really wish Rogers would get its act together on the reliability front. The fact that both Ignite and legacy cable users in different locations are experiencing similar issues at the same time is very interesting.

[mebe]

CTV SCI-FI (formally Space) is good in Toronto on legacy cable. It's currently airing the "Men in Black" movies, without any black screens. False advertising if you ask me.
During this cold and wet weather season, I'm sure lots of subscribers with Ignite or Legacy will encounter issues.
Stay warm and hopefully you won't lose any other channels.⛄

[TracyR288]

Over the last couple of days, my Ignite TV has been really glitchy.  The screen pixelates, freezes, goes black, and the audio drops.  Anyone have any remedies for this before I contact tech support?

[mascf1]

Contact support through this forum, the phone support just sent a tech to my home, changed all the equipment which made no difference. Issue was referred to maintenance when more people in my building were reporting the same issue. Mine stopped doing this several days ago.