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Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

markfink777
I plan to stick around

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

121 REPLIES 121

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

Ontariomartha
I've been here awhile

It happens to us all the times. They send out technicians and it works for awhile and then it starts again. Froze a lot during World Cup. Strange though I could watch same channel on my iPad and no freezing up or hesitations!

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

Ontariomartha
I've been here awhile

We are in a new condo building and have this problem for months now!

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

gogasgoboom
I've been here awhile

I'm in London and this started 3 or 4 days ago. I'm noticing tonight while surfing the net with the tv on in the background that when a page won't load on my computer the tv signal will drop about 2 seconds later. Once the page loads on my computer the tv signal resumes about 2 seconds later. This has repeated numerous times tonight.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

mascf1
I'm a reliable contributor

I’m getting fed up dealing with Rogers on this issue!  It’s improved but the pixelization is still randomly occurring, but not as frequently as it was a few weeks ago.  It literally took Rogers over a year to fix this issue when I had it with the Cable TV, now it’s impacting Ignite TV.  Not impressed.  The issue when it was Cable it was finally fixed at a distribution point on Front St in Toronto, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is also what’s impacting Ignite TV now.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

MA56
I've been around
Same. It started last night. We are extremely frustrated. There has been zero improvement today and I’ve been unable to log into my Rogers.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

derekg66
I plan to stick around
I think Rogers has signed up too many ignite customers and their servers can’t handle the load. It is always happening to us while watching sports during the evening. It is happening right now as we try to watch the Leaf game. Freeze, comes back pixelated. Then HD. Then sound cuts for couple seconds. Mainly live sports stations. Already had a tech online zap my boxes. Didn’t help. The main reason we have ignite is for the sports. Lol.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

Estcher
I've been here awhile

Barrhaven, Ottawa. This has been going on with me for a couple of months ever since Rogers collapsed out here about a month ago. Chatted with "technician" last night - as usual they think this is a cable related problem. Sigh. Seeing the posts here this is systemic. Why do I pay for Ignite TV? It really isn't that great and service is only so-so. Rogers, time to own up and state what the issue is. Servers? Infrastructure? I'm the client who PAYS you for a service that is far less than 100%. Be responsible.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

Hello, @Estcher 

 

Welcome to the Rogers Community Forums!

 

I can understand how frustrating it has been dealing with these connectivity issues on your Ignite service.

 

  • Do you have more than one Ignite Entertainment Box? If yes, does this issue happen on both boxes?
  • Is the box connected to your modem via Wi-Fi or Ethernet?
  • How far away is the box from the modem?

 

We look forward to reviewing your response.

 

RogersTony

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

Peete22
I plan to stick around

Have had Rogers ignte tv for 4 weeks now, CMT and City TV are intermittently cutting out.  I have reset both internet and ignite box, my ignire tv box is connected through ethernet.  So disappointed that we are having issues already with ignite tv playback.  The internet works perfect but tv no such luck.  Now they are going to say that the box is defective and our line which was replaced this spring is the issue lol.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

Hi @Peete22, is the issue specific to the two channels you've listed? Have you had a chance to speak to tech support about this? We can create a ticket to have the issue investigated. Please reach out to us via PM @CommunityHelps for further assistance.

 

 

 

RogersZia

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

Peete22
I plan to stick around

Yes it is only these 2 channels that we know of.  I reached out on Sunday to tech support and have not heard anything back.  It is still doing it, watching channel 38 CMT and it cut out about 5 minutes ago and same last night, when we rewind we can see it everytime.  We had a new line to the house put in about a month ago.  We aren't using a splitter only one box and tv box is hooked up using cat 6 ethernet cable.  I am seeing people post this issue on various forums.    Internet is running 800-900 Mbps and is perfect.  It must be something at the head end, same channel just cut out again just now.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

Peete22
I plan to stick around

Same issue her, have only had ignite for 4 weeks and 2 channels are  cutting out, one channel has done it 3 times in 20 minutes just now 

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

57
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

@Peete22 wrote: ...when we rewind we can see it everytime.  

If it happens at the exact same time when you REW, then the issue is at Rogers' end, probably something to do with the original cloud recording.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

Peete22
I plan to stick around

That is want I am thinking as well but they are going to blame everything but their network, our line to the house and ignite box.  Our line to the hosue wass replaced a month ago and the techs said we had a really good signal and the box is brand new, no splitters box is wired  with ethernet.  Does that mean other people would be experiencing the same issue at least in our area?  What would be the issue and how do they figure it out ia the question.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

Peete22
I plan to stick around

Just curious, are you saying everything we watch is recorded on the cloud even in real time? 

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

57
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

I'm not sure about very short REW since it may be stored on the box itself. It has a bit of memory.

@-G- should be able to confirm.

However, if you stay with the programme for say 30 minutes, it will be in the cloud since the box doesn't have that much built in memory.

If you watch a programme with the restart feature (blue arrow in the guide), then that is in the cloud.  

If you set a recording of the programme, it is in the cloud.   

Therefore if you record several programmes on the problem channel and you get the dropouts and can REW and see the dropout in exactly the same spot, then it's definitely in the cloud and nothing to do with your connection, box, etc. Hope that helps.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

Peete22
I plan to stick around

It happened last night on one channel watching live 3 times in 20 minutes, each time I rewound it back the skip was there then went back to live and would do it again.  Of course just got a text from Rogers saying they can't find a friggin problem.  Only seen it on 2 channels so far, signal and internet is perfect.  I wish I could switch to bell fibe but not offered here.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

-G-
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

@57 wrote:

I'm not sure about very short REW since it may be stored on the box itself. It has a bit of memory.

@-G- should be able to confirm.


Yes.  The box processes the streamed data and then buffers it internally for playback.  If there is a glitch in the stream and you rewind, you will just replay the data that is stored in the buffer and the glitch should replay as well.

 

However, if you stay with the programme for say 30 minutes, it will be in the cloud since the box doesn't have that much built in memory.

If you watch a programme with the restart feature (blue arrow in the guide), then that is in the cloud.  

If you set a recording of the programme, it is in the cloud.   

Therefore if you record several programmes on the problem channel and you get the dropouts and can REW and see the dropout in exactly the same spot, then it's definitely in the cloud and nothing to do with your connection, box, etc. Hope that helps.


Yes, also correct.

 

If only a few channels are problematic and all/most of the others are fine, chances are VERY good that there is either a problem with the source signal, a problem with the equipment that Rogers uses to receive it, or some other problem in the back-end occurring at the time of encoding.

 

Rogers streams TV channels as unicast streams.  If you tune to a problematic channel on multiple set-top boxes, each set-top box will receive separate, independent streams.  If a glitch reproduces on multiple set-top boxes and precisely the same point in the program, this also adds confirmation that the problem is occurring close to the source, not due to a problem in the neighbourhood or within the home.

 

If you either restart the program or watch it On-demand immediately after it airs and the glitch reproduces again at precisely the same spot, that absolutely confirms that the problem is occurring close to the source.

 

If the glitch is cause by a problem at the source or in the back-end infrastructure, then ALL customers who are served by that streaming infrastructure will see the problem at precisely the same spot.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

-G-
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

@Peete22 wrote:

It happened last night on one channel watching live 3 times in 20 minutes, each time I rewound it back the skip was there then went back to live and would do it again.  Of course just got a text from Rogers saying they can't find a friggin problem.  Only seen it on 2 channels so far, signal and internet is perfect.  I wish I could switch to bell fibe but not offered here.


If the problem lies with the originating broadcaster, all that Rogers can do is receive the garbled source signal and stream it, faithfully reproducing the glitch.  There is nothing that Rogers can do to fix this, other than report the problem to the broadcaster.  There is also nothing that you can do to fix this either.

 

Another problem that can be tricky to isolate and confirm is if network traffic between the encoders and the streaming servers is getting delayed, lost or garbled.  You (probably) won't be able to reproduce that sort of glitch by watching the recorded program or watching it on demand.  A tech support agent, almost certainly, will not have visibility into that sort of problem.  However, this would definitely be a Rogers problem.  It would also, almost certainly, affect more than just a few channels and would affect all customers who are served by that back-end infrastructure.

 

 

If a channel is glitchy, start recording the channel, and the program that follows.  Also, post to the forum so that others can do the same and try to confirm the problem.  If a program glitch is seen at the same point by multiple people, then its almost certainly a Rogers problem.

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

Peete22
I plan to stick around

It is 2 channels we are having problems with that we know of, 2 that we watch on a regular basis could be other channels that we don't watch as well.   Surprised it would be 2 well know channels 

Re: Intermittent screen freezes and audio dropout

-G-
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

@Peete22 wrote:

It is 2 channels we are having problems with that we know of, 2 that we watch on a regular basis could be other channels that we don't watch as well.   Surprised it would be 2 well know channels 


Which two channels are those?  Please provide the channel number for your area and the channel name.

 

If/when you see problems with a channel, let us know which program you are watching.  Hopefully, others can tune in as well and confirm the problem.

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