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Old 25-07-2015, 07:38
David Waine
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I have just had fibre optics installed, which increased my Internet connection speed from about 7Mbps to 38. All well and good on my main computer, which is connected wirelessly. My back-up machine and YouView box, however, were connected by power line adapters. These were not TalkTalk's own models, but Devolo units that I already owned and were several years old. Up until yesterday, I would have said that they operated well. The first hint that something might be amiss came when I ran a broadband speed test on my back-up computer. The result indicated that it was still only at 7Mbps (even though my Mac was registering 37.5 at the time). If the power line adapters were strangling the flow to my PC, that would also be true of the YouView box.

That set me thinking about how my box coped with Internet-based material. BBC iPlayer worked fine, as did the other players (except that some of the material on ITV Player and All 4 is of abysmal picture quality - but that is not the box's fault). Netflix? No problems. The TalkTalk Player also worked well. I had bought the first series of 'Game of Thrones', which replayed well in the main, but was prone to slight juddering on movement occasionally. There was a definite problem, however, on my included Sky channels. With my original TalkTalk / Huawei box, a channel would be more or less guaranteed to freeze at some point during an hour's watching, and I would have to switch to another channel and back again to get it going. I subsequently bought a BT-branded G4 box, which updated itself with all my TalkTalk facilities and is a vast improvement. The problems with the Sky channels were still there, but much reduced. Instead of freezing, they would drop out for a moment, then restart themselves. This, at least, made them recordable. previously, I didn't bother in case the recording just ended at a random moment when the box froze.

That set me thinking. A quick trip to PC World made me the proud owner of a wireless dongle for the PC and an ethernet cable for the box. The PC now matches the Mac's Internet connection speed and there are no drop-outs on the Internet channels, and no juddering on 'Game of Thrones'. The online stuff is now indistinguishable from good quality broadcast material. The power line adapters have been retired.

The moral of this story is twofold. Firstly, if fibre is available in your area, and you can afford it, get it. You won't regret it. Secondly, the effectiveness of power line adapters is a bit of a lottery. I have read rumours of them affecting your neighbours' connections and so forth, but I have no idea how true that is. It does seem, however, that their performance is dependant on the quality of the wiring in your walls. That being the case, buying an ethernet cable is a much cheaper solution than rewiring your house. The problem with cables, of course, is hiding them. That is an individual thing, naturally. The more spartan your decor, the harder they will be to hide. You should, however, ensure that you buy a cable long enough for you to be able to route it as inconspicuously as possible.

That being the case, I am now of the opinion that an ethernet cable is the best connection for a YouView box (if not the most convenient). That will remain the case until they bring out a wireless box, if they ever do.
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Old 26-07-2015, 05:02
niceguy1966
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Could you try the wifi dongle in the YouView box? Or is it impossible to set the configuration?

I too use powerline adaptors and have an unreliable service on Sky channels. A cable isn't an option without drilling holes in external walls.
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Old 26-07-2015, 06:25
David Waine
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There is a USB socket on the box, but to the best of my knowledge, it isn't configured to do anything except provide a power outlet. You can charge your mobile phone from it, but that is about all. This would seem to be a waste of a perfectly good socket, so presumably there are plans for it at some stage. I have read that wireless operation does not work reliably on set top boxes. I don't know why this should be because it works perfectly reliably on my Mac, but it might explain why it isn't an option currently. Perhaps they are waiting until it can be made reliable.

In your case, it seems that either you break out the drill or you are stuck with your power line adapters. They appear to work like mine did in providing a signal that was not really strong enough. Not knowing the circumstances of your room, suggestions are difficult. Could you not route the cable under the edges of the carpet or behind any fixtures by the wall? How far is your router from your box? Ideally, the router should be a close as physically possible to the main phone socket, which, in most cases, would place it in the same room as the TV. If your TV is in a different room, however, I can see that would lead to complications.
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Old 28-07-2015, 06:46
niceguy1966
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There is a USB socket on the box, but to the best of my knowledge, it isn't configured to do anything except provide a power outlet. You can charge your mobile phone from it, but that is about all. This would seem to be a waste of a perfectly good socket, so presumably there are plans for it at some stage. I have read that wireless operation does not work reliably on set top boxes. I don't know why this should be because it works perfectly reliably on my Mac, but it might explain why it isn't an option currently. Perhaps they are waiting until it can be made reliable.

In your case, it seems that either you break out the drill or you are stuck with your power line adapters. They appear to work like mine did in providing a signal that was not really strong enough. Not knowing the circumstances of your room, suggestions are difficult. Could you not route the cable under the edges of the carpet or behind any fixtures by the wall? How far is your router from your box? Ideally, the router should be a close as physically possible to the main phone socket, which, in most cases, would place it in the same room as the TV. If your TV is in a different room, however, I can see that would lead to complications.
The main phone socket and the YV box aren't in the same room, or even on the same floor! My phone/router are in my "home office" upstairs and the YV box is in the living room on the ground floor. Luckily, they are on the same ring main. The LED on the powerline adaptor by the YV box is always either Green or Amber (I've never worked out what affects this).

So to cable from one to the other, I'd need to go around 2 walls of the living room to the door, up the stairs and along one wall of the office to the router on my desk, I'd estimate about 25m. Or I go through the wall behind the TV, vertically up to the office and back through the wall, less than 10m.

Given that I'm likely to drop the Talk Talk TV service in the next few months and just have vanilla YouView, I think I'll leave the drill in the cupboard. Only the Sky channels have any issues and I'll be losing them anyway (no major loss).

I might try something like this, fairly cheap and no drilling required!
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Old 28-07-2015, 10:29
David Waine
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Sounds like it's worth a try. Let us know how you get on.
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