Problems with Thompson Sky Plus box and Samsung TV - flicking picture...

We purchased a new Sky Plus box from you recently when we had Sky reconnected at our new address.

When watching various recorded programmes on the new box the picture flashes on and off a number of times - rendering the programmes unwatchable.

Our new Sky Plus box is made by Thompson. From what I have read I believe there is an incompatibility with Thompson Sky Plus boxes and Samsung Plasma/LCD Tv's (which we have a Plasma one of).

Our old Sky Plus box was made by Pace and we had no problems at all watching recorded programmes with our Samsung television.

The problem occurs only with recorded programmes. I have obviously checked all connections but as I'm sure you are aware this is not a connectivity issue.

I am going to ring Sky Customer Services tonight and explain the problem to them. I suspect I'll have a hard time getting my point across.

As the box is only a few weeks old I'm expecting to get a replacement - not a Thompson box though - Pace or Amstrad is what I need.

Failing that, if Sky are just not interested I'll have to buy an Amstrad or Pace box off ebay. I shouldnt have to though.


Has anyone else experienced this? There seem to be quite a few that have on other forums.

thanks in advance.

I've also experienced this one. Had no problems with a Samsung 26" LCD and Thomson box, upgraded to newer 32" one and occassionally get the picture jumping to black and white and then back to colour. I think this has happened on live TV but you're right that recordings seem to be worst affected. Try playing the preview show on anytime - the transitions seem to always trigger it (where the screen goes multicoloures) as they are quite colour rich.

Not got round to checking cabling but sounds like you're experiencing similar things.

it basically happens on any program that's recorded. not black and white flashing though - the playback flicks off (black screen) then on then off for about 5 goes.

I tried my other tv (lg lcd) and it doesnt happen on that.


I'm going to lay in to sky tonight about it and demand a amstrad or pace replacement.

Flicks to black and white, total black, black and white then back to colour here.

Just noticed similar reports on Digitalspy too.

Personal experience with an Amstrad box was bad, let me know how you get on with Sky.

yeah Digitalspy was where i read it first.

I'll post up tonight when I've spoken to Sky. I'm not expecting too much trouble from them - there's not much really that they can say other than agreeing to swap the box.

rang Sky up just now.

spoke to a lady from delhi.

her english was terrible and it took her 3 goes at getting my contact details right.

told her about the problem, she wanted to go through some checks but I stopped her and told her that it was a known issue to sky with Thompson boxes. I said that I wanted an engineer out with either a pace or amstrad box.

She agreed to this and booked an engineer to visit on the 24th October.

I also asked her what compensation I'd be getting for not being able to use sky plus until then (it's not quite that bad but I thought I'd try it on).

She spoke to her supervisor and came back and said she'd credit 1 month's viewing to my account.


I have to say though - the girl's english was terrible - in the end I got her to read back everything we'd agreed on to make sure she'd done it right.

Hi,
I have a Thompson Sky Plus box and a Samsung LED tv. I occasionally get the problem of the picture 'flashing' to a black screen, usually at the beginning or end of programmes. It seems to occur a bit more often when 2 programmes have been recorded at once.
It doesn't usually interfere with viewing though and I don't think it is true that the Thompson box is incompatible with a Samsung tv.

But, here is an interesting thing. I tried to set up a second tv in the bedroom, using an AV sender or digisender. My cunning plan was to broadcast the signal from the Sky box, so it could also be seen on a tv upstairs. The experiment was a complete failure! The signal used by the AV sender was a disaster and interfered with everything. My wireless broadband was completely wiped out. Also, it interfered with the Sky plus box. When I tried to view a programme I had previously recorded the 'flashing black' was almost constant and viewing recorded programmes was impossible.

Having removed the offending device, Hey Presto, watching the recorded programmes is back to normal.

My sketchy and not too technical conclusion is that the black flashing screen may well be some kind of interference.

...oh and beware AV senders, they cause havoc!!!

G Davies