TV service faulty

[5tok3s]

Is anyone else having problems with the reliability of the TalkTalk TV service? At times it's OK, but then I find I can watch some channels but others - regular, freeview type ones eg BBC 1, 2, 4 - are 'unavailable', and the channels I do watch sometimes shut off, leaving a blank screen.

The usual online facilities for streaming are also often unavailable. The caption at the bottom of the screen says 'disconnected.' It's random and very infuriating.

I've tried rebooting my TV box and wifi router but it's as inconsistent as ever.

It's often been a bit hit and miss with the online features, but I put this down to the powerline connection I have, and I've always has the regular channels to fall back on. But the past few days even these aren't always working.

This is a recent development and might finally prompt me to ditch TalkTalk and try another internet provider!

[fr8ys]

Hi,

Pleased to hear you've got back up and running.

If the channels have come back, it may well have been the weather causing an issue. If you get this again, and the weather is hot, it's best not to retune but leave it a couple of days and they should all return.

If they disappear when it's raining and the aerial is external, then it may be an idea to get your aerial installation checked. You could ask them at the time to put separate feeds to both the TV and the box, so you have a backup if the box fails again.

Your Freeview channels come from your aerial and are unaffected by your internet connection. The only channels on your box that are provided over the internet, are those in the 200 plus range and those provided by TalkTalk, which are I think in the 800 range.

If these are not playable and you can't sign into the apps such as iPlayer then please let us know so that we can offer advice regarding your router and power line plugs.

[5tok3s]

I'm pleased to say I *think* I've got the TV box working again. All the usual channels are loaded and accessible including HD versions of BBC. Everything looks like the service I used to have last week.

It took me about half an hour and I'm still not sure if my TV box, or TV, is connected to the TV feed by ethernet or wifi, or analogue aerial. But I'm past caring.

FYI:

1) I have been at work all day and TV/ TV box were switched off at the mains during this time. I came home, rebooted the wifi router, switched on the TV and TV box at the wall socket and noticed that the TV box automatically came 'on' (the blue LED display was on, wheres usually it is red, in standby mode, til I power it on using the handset) When I then turned on the TV it came up with the same homepage as I had when I turned it off, the one about resetting the NetGem box. So straightaway I assumed that, as you suggested, the box was faulty. I've no idea why it was 'on' straight off like this and had remembered/ reloaded the same status I had seen when I tried retuning earlier today.

2) I then tried your suggestion to connect the aerial cable directly into my TV to retune it, but this didn't worl - it said it was still connected via the ethernet. It tried scrolling through all the TV inputs - analogue, digital, AV, HMTI etc - to no avail. By then. I was convinced the whole setup needed a new TV box, and ideally a professional to inspect it and carry out all the correct connections and tunings etc.

3) I forget now what I tried exaclty but over the next half hour I somehow managed to get the NetGem displayed message to go, and the TV to revert to some sort of tuning function. This was different to the usual TalkTalk package I'm used to. I then had to re-log in to things like iPlayer, using an on screen QR code, and create a 4-digit pin for something else. I also found I had to opt in for 'extra' channels, to see the full range of channels I was used to. Bu it now seems to be restored to my previous level of functionality.

I really wish I knew what I was doing/ have done, and am still confused as to if I'm using the NetGem box's Freeview, or the TalkTalk channel package. But, things seem to be what I want to see once more.

I disconnected the aerial cable from the TV box and connected it to my TV, to retune it as instructed, although even when I scrolled through the input selections got an error message saying it was still connected via the ethernet. 

[fr8ys]

I think your box may well be faulty, but in order to be certain please try the following.

Your TV should work and on the TV remote there will be a source button, or a button that shows a square with an arrow on it. Pressing this brings up a menu. With the aerial in the TV press the source button until TV or Live TV is highlighted then press enter.

You should then receive the freeview channels on your TV which will then need retuning. This is usually via the menu button on the remote.

If the HD channels are also missing  on the TV I suspect you may have an aerial issue, but this doesn't explain the box set up message you are getting. If the powerlines are working properly and securely plugged into the box this would override the Wi-Fi setup.

Also BBC iPlayer opening suggests a low signal as this is normal behaviour if the signal is low.

Double check the connections all the way from the router to the box by removing the cables and. re-inserting them. Or try different cables if you have them.

If you have a laptop or another device that uses an ethernet cable, take this out of the TV box and plug it in. Does this work? If not it points to an issue with your connection to the router, probably the powerline plugs.

Please let us know how you get on.

You mentioned speaking to someone, and this is possible, but they will want to perform checks too.

You can try phoning 0345 172 0088 if you wish.

Opening Hours can be found here - https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Articles/How-to-contact-TalkTalk-Broadband/ta-p/2230529#

[5tok3s]

My TV service is now non-existent. When I switch on the TV and TV box, all I get on screen is the settings page for the Netgem box, which is permanently saying 'trying to connect to the internet using the ethernet' I can't navigate away from this.

I have switched everything off for half an hour, just turned everything on again, and that's all I have. The settings page. The Netgem handset won't even allow me to switch it on and off now, I need to turn it off or on at the mains.

I can't look into this any more now because I need to go to work, please leave any comments or further advice and I will try and follow it later. A phone number would be preferable

[nambuso-TT]

Hi there 5tok3s. I am very sorry to hear that you are having issues with your TV services. so just to fully confirm, you are unable to watch freeview channels, you are unable to stream online and the wifi is inconsistent

[5tok3s]

I removed the aerial from the Netgem box to retune it as you suggest, but can't work out how to do this since the TV screen (obviously) goes blank since it's not connected to the box any more. So had to reconnect the aerial again.

I retuned my TV and this seemed to have some effect - I could access BBC1 and BBC2 again (channels 1 and 2) although they only seemd to do this via iPlayer - selecting Ch1 got the iPlayer logo, then the usual 'rotating wheel' logo while iPlayer loaded, then the live channel came on. It never used to do this, it would usually just go to the live channel. Also, Channel 101 used to be BBC1-HD, Channel 102 was BBC2-HD - and now these channels are not recognised. So I've lost HD access.

I then tried to reset the Netgem box as directed, pressing the side button five times. This got a screen showing the info that my TV was connected via the ethernet cable, and telling me to try the wifi connection. I tried this, and got an instruction on screen to press the WPS button on my router. (The router is in another room, I thought the powerline system meant I didn't need 'air borne' wifi, I was hard-wired to the router vis the powerline link) So I pressed the WPS on my router, which seemed to switch off the wifi signal completely - the usual LEDs on the router went dead. So I rebooted the router. This all had no effect on the Netgem box, and the TV display still said try to connect to the wifi - reverting to the ethernet doesn't allow anything else to be done. So, no wifi link and ethernet not a valid connection, I unplugged the Netgem box from the mains (the remote power-off switch didn't work) and now the Netgem box is dead. I can't power it on using the handset and there's no switch I can see on the box. I tried pressing the button on the side, once, but this did nothing.

I then managed to select my home wifi signal and entered the router password, getting the message 'you are connected to TalkTalk3E8FF5' but when I press continue, get the same message 'you are not connected to wifi' - this happens repeatedly. So I'm locked into a vicious circle trying to reset the Netgem box where it requires me to connect to wifi (the ethernet option not allowing me to progress), I then tried the WMS option which did nothing, I then connected to my wifi supply, to be told I am connected, but am not!

And I can't revert or leave the on-screen Netgem set-up page - no keyboard 'back' command on the handset does anything; I've turned the TV and Netgem box off, and still get the same set-up page. So now I've got no TV service whatsoever.

I don't know what I'm doing, I think that's clear by now(!) Is there no way I can book an engineer to come and fix this problem? Or even talk me through things on the phone? I'm spending longer typing up an account of what I'm doing, than actually doing the things suggested.

[fr8ys]

The retune function is found under settings.

It's a while since I've used this box, but from memory the settings are accessed via the scroll menu at the top, left to right.

Your TV would have an aerial socket, so remove the aerial from the box and find a round connector on the reverse (or it may be on a side panel) of the TV. If you haven't used it for a while, you may need to retune this to check.

I suggest this as it could be a faulty aerial, in which case you would need to consult a local aerial installer to fix this.

The Netgems do sometimes need resetting. If you use the record function you will lose any recordings made. 

To reset the box, with the box on, press the button on the left hand side 5 times. This will restart the set-up procedure.

If this does not improve the situation and there is nothing wrong with the picture on the TV then your box is faulty.

Let us know how you get on please.

[5tok3s]

Hi, and THANK YOU for the detailed list of suggestions to help, which TalkTalk's 'chat service' (which I was prompted to use earlier this afternoon, most enthusiastically) never provided, after an hour's to-and-fro nonsensical chat! I had to break off eventually, having made no progress whatsoever, because I had another 'real life' event to get to.

All lights/LEDs are working, on every device (router, powerline adapter and TV box)

TV box is a Netgem, not sure of the model number, but it's a small, squarish device with rounded corners.

I'm unable to connect the aerial cable directly into my TV set because I can't find a suitable socket. It's a Sony modern model. Maybe it would need an adapter for the various sockets I can find? Perhaps a TV engineer could do this?

Please advise how to retune my TV box. I've tried several options with the handset but, again, I'm not a TV engineer. It really isn't intuitively obvious how to do this (I know periodically there are prompts on the TV to recalibrate/ retune channels, but have no idea how to manually instigate this)

If all this commotion is really down to the weather, it's a first for me, as a TalkTalk customer of 15 years or so! The weather of late has not been extreme or noticeably different.

Thanks again for such a detailed list of suggestions how to fix the problem. 

[fr8ys]

Which box do you have?

There seems to be 2 issues here that would not normally be connected to each other, unless it's ITVX and All4 that won't 

play, as these 2 apps rely on a tv signal on some boxes.

You say you use powerlines or the internet options. When you have issues are the lights on these green or do they go off or red (depending on the make you use). Have you tried resetting these using the pinholes on then and then re-pairing them?

Regarding your over the air channels, have you tried taking the aerial out of the box and plugging this directly into the TV?

If so are the channels playing ok or is there any breakup or blank as you experience with the box

I'm assuming you have performed a retune of channels on the box. If not, remove the aerial and retune. You will get 0

channels but this will clear the memory. You can then replace the aerial and retune.

Does this coincide with periods of extreme weather events such as high heat or real rain downpours? Weather can affect TV signals, and rain can affect connections if you have an external TV aerial.

If the above doesn't help please let us know which box you have so I can advise more specific help.

Thank you.

[5tok3s]

I've been using the TalkTalk chat (non) service for almost an hour and they wanted me to check onnections, unplug and reconnect, reboot, and list all affected channels.

Basically BBC ones seem to have a 'bad signal' or 'this channel not available'

Channel 83 'Together TV' shows a sort of homepage image of a lady with flowers and a message 'Together TV will be with you in a few moments' but it doesn't change.

Then all channels beyond 83 have audio, but still show the homepage image from Ch83!

[kanya-TT]

Thank you for getting back to us @5tok3s.  Are All FreeView Channels impacted?

Kanya

[ferguson]

@fr8ys 

Could you maybe help here, please?

[5tok3s]

I am at home and available to discuss this problem further. Still no BBC channels, ITV3 and others.

[kanya-TT]

Thank you for getting back to me. We are still more than happy to assist you tomorrow don't worry we'll be here.

Kanya

[5tok3s]

Hi Kanya, thanks for your response. No, I am not at home and working til late tonight (10pm) Would tomorrow be OK?

[kanya-TT]

Hey there, @5tok3s.Please allow us to look into this, are you at home where you TalkTalk TV is connected? 

Kanya