We've got a FreeSat box and recently noticed that BBC iplayer is now available. I've plugged a 10m ethernet cable into the Freesat box to our BT Homehub and the iplayer works brilliantly. However I've noticed that with the ethernet cable attached we get a faint distortion of wavy horizontal lines in the tv picture, it's still very watchable, just a bit annoying. With the cable removed it's fine again. I'm not very knowledgable when it comes to electronics but I assume that this is interference. The cable itself was a fairly cheap ebay one.

Is there anything I can do, could I buy a better shielded ethernet cable? I think that you can also buy magnets in clip-on jackets for cables that are supposed to reduce interference, would these help?

Simple solution might be a shorter cable, if one will reach?

Due to the room setup a 10m cable is the right length. I could try a wireless dongle but I doubt that that will give the bandwidth for higher quality viewing.

Even a fairly poor wifi link is likely better than your broadband speed.

I get a good broadband connection, I'm near the exchange and see a (measured) 8Mbps.

Wifi is (mostly) 54Mbps, which you'll never see realistically, but you only need to get 3Mbps to stream HD iPlayer (less for SD) and you'll get that easily.

You do get better classes of ethernet cable, and as you suggest chokes (no magnets in them, it's just ferrous metal) may damp interference. You may be able to clip some off something else you have already to try out.

Another possible issue could be grounding, if the two devices are on different parts of the mains ring. Can you try plugging them into different sockets and see if it helps?

Do you have any mains cables running parallel to the network cable? If so seperate them or try running the caable straight across the room to see if the interference goes away.

If it's induced noise from mains cables, ferrites may help as may better/screened network cable but you should keep them seperate.

Just to confirm; does the interference happen at all times when you're watching TV with the cable connected, or just when watching iPlayer?

How about when it's disconnected from the BT box but still plugged into the Freesat box?

The distortion is there watching tv or iplayer with the cable plugged in and gone with the cable unplugged (I haven't tried it unplugged at the hub end).

What FreeSat box are you using? What operating system is running on it to access Iplayer

Even a fairly poor wifi link is likely better than your broadband speed.

+1

I can view iPlayer thro the Wii and PS3 on a Wifi connection without a problem.

I might try wifi then, the iplayer video shown on Freesat recommended a cabled link.

Quirrel it's a fairly cheap Bush Freesat box but I'm afraid I've no idea what OS it's running.

A better quality cable would probably help, ToolStation & Screwfix sell ok ones if you don't want to get boned by a computer shop.

PC World wanted forty quid for a 10m ethernet cable so perhaps I can't expect too much for £3.50 off of ebay.

I'm not sure that a 'better' ethernet cable is going to make any difference. It sounds like fundamentally poor design of the Freesat box that is allowing interference from the cable to affect the 'live' TV picture.

As Cougar suggested it would be interesting to know whether the same interference was there with the cable connected to the Freesat but disconnected from the BT Hub. If it is then there might be benefit of a shielded cable but it would still be a pretty long shot.

As others have said probably your best bet is going to be trying a WiFi connection; if your Hub and Freesat box both have the capability (and have good electromagnetic 'line-of-sight' (i.e. without thick stone/concrete walls in between or other significant sources of interference like a microwave oven or cordless phone base station)) then you should get the required speed and have no additional outlay.

PC World wanted forty quid for a 10m ethernet cable so perhaps I can't expect too much for £3.50 off of ebay

To be honest, they would probably be pretty much the same quality, and the same as the ones at Toolstation/Screwfix – unless the one from eBay is particularly (unusually) bad.

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