Sky Q poor picture quality - HELP

dawson001

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Recently "upgraded" to Sky Q after my old HD box stopped working however the picture quality has been nowhere near as good as the old HD box....its really soft and slightly pixilated.

I've tried numerous things such as changing Sky Q box settings from 1080i, 1080p and 2160p both 8 bit and 10 bit. I've changed HDMI leads, changed HDMI ports, changed TV picture settings but nothing compares to the old HD box which was crystal clear.

I'm using a new 2020 Sony Xh9505 TV which provides an amazing picture on PS5 and built in YouTube app but Sky is a significant downgrade.

Coinsidently, my Netflix picture through TV app is also worse since Sky incorporated it to my "upgrade". I have changed my playback settings on Netflix to "high" but made no difference. See pictures attached and zoom in.....shocking

We had a Sky engineer to check connection (to say was useless is being polite) over to swap Q box but made no difference. He told me that the picture he was seeing looked fine.....i explained numerous times that it poor in comparison to old HD box but didn't seem interested.

Please can anyone assist in things I can try to improve quality?
 

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How have you set up your TV picture controls?
Is it a direct connection or through an AV reciever ?
 
How have you set up your TV picture controls?
Is it a direct connection or through an AV reciever ?
It's a direct connection
 
Do you have the UHD add-on? If not then your Netflix will only be SD & HD.
 
Changing over to Sky Q cannot change the quality of your TV app - unless as above your subscription has been downgraded.

Difficult to tell much from screenshots, but the HD Netflix pic looks quite sharp. With regard to the Q box, some people claim that the HD output is a bit softer than a Sky HD box, but this is a subtle difference which not everyone sees. It should not be pixelating, if so that indicates a signal issue - what speed broadband do you have, and what is your dish strength?

The Q's biggest fault is I believe the lack of native output, meaning the box takes care of the upscaling.
 
Recently "upgraded" to Sky Q after my old HD box stopped working however the picture quality has been nowhere near as good as the old HD box....its really soft and slightly pixilated.

I've tried numerous things such as changing Sky Q box settings from 1080i, 1080p and 2160p both 8 bit and 10 bit. I've changed HDMI leads, changed HDMI ports, changed TV picture settings but nothing compares to the old HD box which was crystal clear.

I'm using a new 2020 Sony Xh9505 TV which provides an amazing picture on PS5 and built in YouTube app but Sky is a significant downgrade.

Coinsidently, my Netflix picture through TV app is also worse since Sky incorporated it to my "upgrade". I have changed my playback settings on Netflix to "high" but made no difference. See pictures attached and zoom in.....shocking

We had a Sky engineer to check connection (to say was useless is being polite) over to swap Q box but made no difference. He told me that the picture he was seeing looked fine.....i explained numerous times that it poor in comparison to old HD box but didn't seem interested.

Please can anyone assist in things I can try to improve quality?
Photo on the right says it’s 1080, is that a sky programme ? Sky Q uhd programmes on my Sony look amazing, hd programmes still look sharp, sd programmes.... they’ll always look poor no matter what tv you have
 
How would I know what version I have? Is there a way of checking?
Yes- just click the "what box do I have" link that the poster supplied......

Does the main lead have a separate power supply, or does it go straight into the box?
 
How have you set up your TV picture controls?
Is it a direct connection or through an AV reciever ?
I got sky q in Nov and its definetly a downgrade in pq for HD compared to the old HD box. For Netflix through the box the pq is excellent. Both boxes went/go through my denon avr x3500h. I am aware it has a scaler which I leave at 1080p 24ghz to stop the Netflix judder. The issue with the sky hd picture is it has poor shadow detail especially for faces. I found an increase in gamma helped but its not the same as the previous box. Is there an issue with sky q going via an amp.
 

What "scaler" are you referring to? Sky Box or Denon? Either way, using 1080p means you are not getting any native UHD pictures from the Sky Q, or from Netflix if using the Sky app. And it's 24hz by the way ,it's not Back To The Future!Also be aware that only Blu rays are likely to output 24hz, Sky Q is 50hz and Netflix I believe is 60hz.

Now, you first need to get your setting right before complaining about the PQ - Sky Q set to output 2160p 10 bit. Denon - switch off all video settings other than that required to mix in the on screen display!

Switch it all off at the mains, leave for 10 minutes the reboot.

Come back and let us know how you get on.
 
Yes- just click the "what box do I have" link that the poster supplied......

Does the main lead have a separate power supply, or does it go straight into the box?
It says 1tb box9879
Hardware version 32B206
Software version Q140. 000.37.00L (58j9n5g)

Sorry not sure what you mean about main lead.....just a single power cable into Sky box then HDMI to TV.
 
What "scaler" are you referring to? Sky Box or Denon? Either way, using 1080p means you are not getting any native UHD pictures from the Sky Q, or from Netflix if using the Sky app. And it's 24hz by the way ,it's not Back To The Future!Also be aware that only Blu rays are likely to output 24hz, Sky Q is 50hz and Netflix I believe is 60hz.

Now, you first need to get your setting right before complaining about the PQ - Sky Q set to output 2160p 10 bit. Denon - switch off all video settings other than that required to mix in the on screen display!

Switch it all off at the mains, leave for 10 minutes the reboot.

Come back and let us know how you get on.
Hi Cap, I'm only commenting on HD I don't have a uhd TV only a Pioneer kuro. Sky is 1080i 50hz, the vast majority of Netflix HD is 24hz, the sky judder setting changes 50hz to 60hz. The scaler is on the denon, when set to 1080p 24hz completely eliminates any judder from Netflix. The scaler is turned off for sky q viewing and there are no other video settings in operation on the amp, sky q set to 1080p. The pq is defenetly not as good as my old hd+ box. As to why I don't know.
 
It says 1tb box9879
Hardware version 32B206
Software version Q140. 000.37.00L (58j9n5g)

Sorry not sure what you mean about main lead.....just a single power cable into Sky box then HDMI to TV.
Then it sounds like you may have a V1 box. Are you able to see any HDR programming?
 
Hi Cap, I'm only commenting on HD I don't have a uhd TV only a Pioneer kuro. Sky is 1080i 50hz, the vast majority of Netflix HD is 24hz, the sky judder setting changes 50hz to 60hz. The scaler is on the denon, when set to 1080p 24hz completely eliminates any judder from Netflix. The scaler is turned off for sky q viewing and there are no other video settings in operation on the amp, sky q set to 1080p. The pq is defenetly not as good as my old hd+ box. As to why I don't know.

Sorry, got you mixed up with the OP, you crashed his thread.

Set your Sky Q output to 1080i and let the TV do the deinterlacing.
 
It says 1tb box9879
Hardware version 32B206
Software version Q140. 000.37.00L (58j9n5g)

Sorry not sure what you mean about main lead.....just a single power cable into Sky box then HDMI to TV.

Thats a V3 then so not sure what the issue is. My picture is pretty good for the most part.
 
Then it sounds like you may have a V1 box. Are you able to see any HDR programming?
So I've activated 2160p 10 bit on Sky Q settings and downloaded a documentry Sky themselves say is HDR.

Firstly I would say the picture quality is good HD at best but also it doesn't say anything about HDR.....please see screenshot

IMG_20210124_093028.jpg


Does this mean I have an old version Q box? If so, do the newer boxes provide a clearer, more defined picture?

Should it display HDR when pressing info?
 
Last edited:
So I've activated 2160p 10 bit on Sky Q settings and downloaded a documentry Sky themselves say is HDR.

Firstly I would say the picture quality is good HD at best but also it doesn't say anything about HDR.....please see screenshot

View attachment 1447433

Does this mean I have an old version Q box? If so, do the newer boxes provide a clearer, more defined picture?

Should it display HDR when pressing info?
If you are able to set 2160p 10 bit then your box is HDR capable, so must be a V2 or V3.
 
If you are able to set 2160p 10 bit then your box is HDR capable, so must be a V2 or V3.
Thank you.

I just can't get my head around it. Surely Sky Q should be an upgrade over Sky HD but with a poorer picture quality it's hard to justify.

I guess I'll have to ring Sky and cancel the package
 
Thank you.

I just can't get my head around it. Surely Sky Q should be an upgrade over Sky HD but with a poorer picture quality it's hard to justify.

I guess I'll have to ring Sky and cancel the package
Worth swapping out the box first before you cancel - I switched from Sky HD to Q a couple of years ago, and while I'm far from impressed with the overall functionality of it, I can't say in all fairness that I noticed any drop in PQ.
 
Worth swapping out the box first before you cancel - I switched from Sky HD to Q a couple of years ago, and while I'm far from impressed with the overall functionality of it, I can't say in all fairness that I noticed any drop in
Just rang Sky and getting a replacement Q box being delivered tomorrow to rule my current one out of being the problem.

The lady I spoke to said she is also going to "resend the picture files" to my viewing card.....whatever tripe that means!!

The the issues persists then they said they will replace the dish and LMB.

They seem to be doing everything they can than admit the old HD boxes we're better. Apparently no-one else has complained about Q boxes (despite forums being littered with complaints)
 
Well, it can't do 4K and HDR to be fair. On the subject of 4K, do you watch much of it on the Sky Box? If not, try setting the output to 1080i - if set to 2160p it means that the box is doing the upscaling of all HD programming before it reaches your TV - and the TV will probably do a better job.
 
Just rang Sky and getting a replacement Q box being delivered tomorrow to rule my current one out of being the problem.

The lady I spoke to said she is also going to "resend the picture files" to my viewing card.....whatever tripe that means!!

The the issues persists then they said they will replace the dish and LMB.

They seem to be doing everything they can than admit the old HD boxes we're better. Apparently no-one else has complained about Q boxes (despite forums being littered with complaints)
I can’t understand how a Sky Q box can be worse PQ than the old HD box, mine looks fan bloody tastic, i had a problem with mine a while ago, not getting some channels, i reset it multiple times but no joy, an engineer came out and just replaced it, back to normal again, you must have been unlucky with yours
 
A few things here:

HDR needs to be enabled on the TV's HDMI port you have your Sky Q box plugged into and set to "Auto" in the TV's settings menu.

The image quality of Sky varies wildly from channel to channel. The best quality I've seen, consistently, is 4K Sky Sports. Some of the movie channels can look almost SD, even with newer films. Downloaded Sky movies are much better quality that those broadcast "live".

Same for Netflix, it can vary wildly. Try something from 2021 that's UHD and/or HDR. Not 100% sure, but you may be able to use the TV's native Netflix app rather than the one on the Sky Q box. I don't use any Sky Q box based apps, I use everything on my Sony XG9505. However... I used the Sky Q iPlayer app yesterday and noticed that the image was marginally softer than in the TV's native app.
 
but you may be able to use the TV's native Netflix app rather than the one on the Sky Q box
The OP stated in his original post “Coinsidently, my Netflix picture through TV app is also worse since Sky incorporated it to my "upgrade"

Clearly this is impossible and it was suggested that Sky may have downgraded his Netflix subscription from Premium to SD but this was never answered by the OP.
 

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