TSN4 Choppy and Laggy

[ctafts]

Has anyone else has issues with watching leaf games on TSN4? At some point during the game it starts getting choppy, freezes, sometimes looses audio and is super frustrating. I’ll note that the commercials are totally fine and the issue is only with the live game.

***Edited Labels***

[palee]

Constantly freezes. Not new. Even commercials. Can't even watch it it is so bad.

[ctafts]

So I seemed to resolve my issue by unplugging both the ignite TV box and the ignite modem and waiting around 10sec and then plugging the modem back in. Then I waited until it was fully booted up (need to wait for the 5ghz wifi) around 3-5min and then I plugged the TV box back in. I wonder if the issue is due to the bit rate TSN uses for the games and it's causing the TV box to have memory issues, an experience similar to when your internet browser has a boatload of tabs open it can be a memory hog and cause slow system performance. The rogers tech that visited a few weeks back said there is a new Ignite TV  boxing coming as the current one XI6 is slow so maybe the box gets overloaded and needs a hard reboot to flush the memory 🤷‍ Either way there's no excuse for this type of experience for a premium channel. 

[SpennyT]

Same thing here.. this is ridiculous.. time to cancel and switch to bell. Can’t watch this at all but Sportsnet works fine right now… very frustrating

[Spoofy]

Im going to be cancelling my subscription to Ignite if this isn’t fixed. It’s embarrassing how long this has been going on for

[User2162]

Same

[mebe]

If it does require a reboot to clear the memory for TSN4 Leaf games, what about those watching other TSN regional broadcasts for other Canadian teams (Ottawa on TSN5, Montreal on TSN2, Jets on TSN3, etc.)?
It would be odd if only Leaf viewers watching on TSN4 have these problems with Ignite TV.
Plus, for those Leaf viewers with the Sports Pack, giving them the ability to watch those other TSN regional games that way, how do those TSN broadcasts look and sound? Again, if it's just TSN4 Leafs' games, that would make it easier to point the finger at a specific channel problem, as opposed to all TSN hockey streams via Ignite Tv.

[User2162]

I’m watching the woman’s game on TSN4 right now. Perfect. The ONLY time it’s an issue is during leaf games. To your point I have no idea about the other regions though. I personally think it has something to do with the garbage board graphic ads that TSN technology isn’t equipped to handle.

[mebe]

Hmm. A sexist might say that the Womens' game is slower than an NHL game, so that's why you have no problems.
A conspiracy theorist might say that if Rogers makes sure that the Leafs and Raptors look and sound lousy on TSN, but perfect on Sportsnet, the viewer ratings results should be worse for TSN4 games, than for those on Sportsnet.
I'm still curious how the other TSN regional broadcasts look and sound, because if it's a TSN broadcaster issue, switching to Bell might not make much of a difference.

[57]

What happens if you record the game and come in a few minutes later to start watching the recording?

What happens if you click REW when watching live and then watch the recording a minute or a few seconds after "live".  You're not really watching "live" anyway because the IgniteTV stream is about 30 seconds later than live.

I'm not sure how this all works, but my theory is that there are too many people tuning into the Leafs/Raptors games for the same signal to go through to the people watching "live" (lack of broadband capacity). If you watch the recording instead, does that help?

[ctafts]

@57 That very well could be the case but it's odd that it only happens with TSN. It's not a bad idea to test by recording a game and watching it that way. 

I suspect it to be a broadcasting issue, maybe with the signal, they are outputting? Maybe the IPTV devices have a hard time processing it and it bogs down the TV boxes. I'm pretty sure I had this issue even when I had Bell Fibe TV last winter, I've always dreaded the game on TSN as the video/audio always seems to stutter for whatever reason. 

I've been able to resolve it most times but rebooting the modem and the TV box but we shouldn't have to do that.

[User2162]

No that doesn’t help. I’ve tried everything. And even if that did help, no one should have to do that in order to watch a premium service properly. But again….no that doesn’t make any difference at all.

[User2162]

Recording it doesn’t work. Nothing works. Rogers and TSN both deny there’s an issue. I’ve talked to both. CBC had my modem upgraded. Nothing works. 

[57]

I'm confused. Some people report that restarting the modem/gateway/box fixes the issue? I usually prefer to do a restart using the Ignite app because that runs some checks and clears everything (that can take up to 12 minutes, but usually is finished in half the time).  If you have set a recording, then you can watch what you "missed" during that time and be back to live in no time with all the commercials.

I don't watch team sports, but I recall a major, very similar, issue with a 4K channel about a year ago - can't remember if it was SN or TSN.  I confirmed that it happened to me at the time and it was easily reproducible.

What about people who are still on Legacy Digital Cable?

[57]

FYI, I've set two recordings for November 23 when the Raptors have a 4K game.  One recording on 30/519 (HD), one on 515 (4K). (I know this is not necessarily a 4K Issue at this time)

There's a 4K football game on November 20th, but I don't recall complaints about football.

I've also set a recording for the Leafs on November 25, which is the next TSN game as far as I can tell.

[Datalink]

Fwiw, if you have to restart the modem to return the modem to normal operating condition, that tells you that you have a cable signal issue.  For whatever reason, a modem restart will temporarily resolve intermittent or poor cable performance, but, it doesn't solve the underlying problem, which is either a cable problem, where that cable requires replacement, or possibly cable connector replacements are required, or both, depending on what the field technician determines.  

With underground cables, its easy to check the cable for water ingress or physical breaks in the cable.  The tech can use a Time Domain Reflectometer to test the cable.  That essentially fires a pulse down the cable, looking for a signal reflection from the other end or from a break in the cable.  If you test the cable from both ends, and the cable is in good physical condition, then the cable lengths, as measured from both ends will be the same.  For a cable that suffers from water ingress or a physical break, that distance, as measured from both ends will be different, therefore, its time to replace the cable.  

The modem signal levels alone might be a major clue that there are problems afoot.  The normal QAM (channels 1 to 32) signal levels are 0 dBmV with a signal to noise ratio of 36 to 40 dBmV.  The operating signal level range is +/- 15 dBmV, but, historically, from what I've seen in the forum, if you're levels are outside of a +/- 6/7 dBmV range, you can expect to see modem issues. 

The upstream QAM channels (1 to 3 or possibly 1 to 4) typically operate in a 36 to 40 dBmV range.  

I have not included the OFDM channel ranges, but, they should be close to the levels mentioned above.  

[mebe]

This is a weird problem with most likely a simple solution.
When I watched that posted 30-second youtube video showing part of last night's glitchy Leafs game, my first thought was that Rogers was using one of TSN's inferior streams that people often complain about. But Rogers is just broadcasting what TSN is sending them, so what's wrong with the bitrates of the games? Do they start off low, or end up that way by the time Rogers receives them?
Unplugging the modem and box is only necessary because of the low bitrates or whatever technical issue is occuring.
I have digital legacy, but I cancelled TSN last week. Still, even though I only watched random 10-second intervals periodically throughout the first few Leafs and Raptors games of this season on TSN4, I didn't notice any problems. However, when Rogers had the major Ignite system outage, I was still able to watch TSN2 and TSN4 via Rogers legacy digital, so clearly Rogers uses a different source or distribution method for those channels on legacy.
I also watched the first week (or 5 days?) of the NHL season during the Rogers free preview of the NHL feeds (ch. 450 and beyond), and all of the Regional TSN feeds on the Super Sports Pack channels (ch. 450 and beyond). Those regional TSN feeds (Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg) were perfect.
The Leafs' regional games, in my Toronto region, are only on TSN4 or Sportsnet channels and thus not part of the Sports Pack. Note: The Super Sports Pack channels were black screens even via legacy digital during the Ignite Tv outage, so since those are most likely sourced via the Internet like Ignite Tv, Rogers is clearly capable of broadcasting perfect TSN NHL regional feeds.
Why the Leafs' regional broadcasts on Ignite Tv are still flawed for at least some Rogers viewers is a mystery that Scooby Doo and the gang will most likely solve well before the ghost in the machine is unmasked. 👻

[LizA123]

Received a reply from Roger's tech. Apparently they are now aware of the problems with TSN4 feed for these live games system-wide and are "working on a solution". Let's hope this actually happens. 😳

[User2162]

Every single person doesn’t have this issue though. Unless you’ve had the same problem all the people in this thread are complaining of, you recording the game to see if it glitches doesn’t tell anyone anything.

[User2162]

That doesn’t solve the problem. The people who have said that haven’t commented since. That may temporarily make it seems like it fixed it but it didn’t I can assure you. Whatever the issue is progressively gets worse throughout the game for whatever reason. So the channel has to be on for a few mins. So these people unplug everything and think oh that fixed it but 15 mins later it’s just as bad.

[57]

---

@User2162 wrote:
Every single person doesn’t have this issue though. Unless you’ve had the same problem all the people in this thread are complaining of, you recording the game to see if it glitches doesn’t tell anyone anything.

---

Agreed, but if I do see the glitches, I can add my voice to yours and as an RE, it may carry additional weight.

[Yrag]

I am on the border of Richmond hill and actually in Maple Ontario. I am having the same issue. It is pathetic and I agree I should not be paying for this. I have missed so many critical moments of the games due to this. The good news is that Bell Fibe has just been installed in my neighborhood and I can switch. Rogers take note and your lame message on this post about please let us know so we can enter a ticket , that’s unacceptable. You obviously know about this issue.