topic Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again in Android TV

I will never buy a Sony TV again

AHusted — Mon, 03 May 2021 17:42:12 GMT

Sony,

Just to say I’ve had enough now. My Sony Bravia TVs just isn’t fit for purpose. It’s the worst technology I have ever bought - a bug ridden pile of excrement.

- Bugs in a software upgrade means that a full restart is required every time the TV is switched on. After 2 years this still hasn’t been fixed. I can’t put into words how annoying this is - but it means I will never buy a Sony TV again.

- YouView requires an aerial connection to work. So doesn’t work if you can only connect via freesat. That’s right, the internet TV doesn’t work if you don’t have an aerial.

- Constant wi-fi issues. And I mean constant. So bad I eventually had to buy some powerline adapters to avoid connecting via wi-fi

- Which then revealed issues with connecting to a LAN (fixed by changing date and time setting - I kid you not... but a great way to waste 2 hours searching through forums to find a solution)

And the saddest thing is this forum is full of people who feel the same way. I have always bought and recommend Sony products. No more.

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

homerhotspur5 — Tue, 04 May 2021 11:17:33 GMT

Dare I ask which TV drove you to this decision?

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Joe_Dohn — Tue, 04 May 2021 13:35:12 GMT

I'm also curious as to which model you have and the software version you have on it?

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

cinek2 — Sat, 08 May 2021 09:34:48 GMT

not OP but have to agree. The TV is terrible after just a couple of years.

I have the XE9005 on the latest firmware v6.7140 and it's running super slow already (has been for ages). I have to restart it every few weeks as it becomes unusable and even then after a few days is slows down quite a bit.

Wifi keeps going off. The latest firmware improved the wifi issues as I can now just turn it back on in the settings but previously that'd be another TV restart which would happen at least once a week.

Today every time I moved from app to app I could see pixels on the TV. Guess what... another restart.

Spent 1500 on this and would expect it to work properly for a while and not have to keep restarting it constantly. Right now just waiting for it to die or something to break and will replace it or if there are some decent deals but definitely not touching sony every again.

I also don't have a ton of apps installed. Home screen has just the apps I use on it i.e. netflix, amazon prime, plex, twitch. No other apps (other than the preinstalled stuff) are present.

edit:

forgot to mention that I've already reset the TV to factory settings about 4 times since I've had it....

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Bartfast — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 22:20:22 GMT

I agree, I’d never buy another Sony. Whilst the picture is okay and the blacks are actually quite impressive the rest of it, software to the remote is absolutely useless. Apps disappear, it switches itself off. The remote is often non responsive. It’s not a pleasurable experiment trying to use it.

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Jbennett360 — Sun, 08 Jan 2023 11:26:56 GMT

Hate to say it, but, as much as I love my XH9505, I'm massively disappointed with the lack of updates. (September 2021/Android 9 /July 2021 Security patch!)

The slowness of rolling out ITVX, when my old Samsung NU7400 already has it?

Software seems to be Sony's downfall. It's the same with their phones too.

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

SableRabbits1 — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 22:05:13 GMT

I’m disgusted. Sony used to be a good make. This Sony Bravia is atrocious. It constantly loses channels and the picture breaks up. I would happily break up this TV. Appalling. If it had been sone cheap make I could have understood more perhaps. Sony help does not help at all. Never again. I am going to write an official complaint although I suspect that will come to nothing. What a waste of money!

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Piscie — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 17:35:47 GMT

@SableRabbits1, what is your TV model? and which software version is installed? and how are you receiving channels on your TV? Aerial, cable or setup box?

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

SableRabbits1 — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 14:53:16 GMT

It is a Sony Bravia KD43XE 7003. Connected by aerial. I don't know about the software - I always tick 'yes' when asked if I want to search for updates. Looking back, I see that I complained about this TV two years ago as it kept losing apps. I am so sick of it losing channels and having to go through the whole palaver of re-setting.

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Elodin — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 15:33:47 GMT

Hi @SableRabbits1 Turn on your TV and press the HOME button on the remote to display the Home Menu. navigate to Settings, and press Enter and Navigate to Customer Support and press Enter. The model and software version should be displayed on the top right-hand corner of the screen. If your TV is not running on V8.931, you'll need to update your TV here

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

SableRabbits1 — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 13:42:17 GMT

Sorry - I didn't see your reply. Will try that now. Thank you.

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Bydandie — Tue, 09 May 2023 15:40:21 GMT

I too am really sad about the lack of updates for the TV. My in-laws Panasonic Google TV gets very regular updates and this hasn't had any since 2021 - it's an Android device in the home and really poor from Sony 😞

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Anonymous — Tue, 09 May 2023 16:09:11 GMT

It is unfortunate but I think it follows the same logic for smartphones. They only get supported for software updates for 2 or 3 years maximum, we always hope for the best but don't count on it too much as well. Most of the updates you're gonna get now mostly for security or bugs. But who knows? They might release a new one out of the blue!

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Mike-G1sbn — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 10:37:45 GMT

I agree. The firmware on my KD43x80j is the latest version (6.6495.07) but is still very slow in changing channels on Freesat particularly going to a channel on another transponder. It sometimes hangs, presents the BBC 'good news' screen and reverts back to the channel it was previously on. Also there seems to be no way to match audio levels between HD and SD channels when using an external AV amplifier which eventually had to use an optical link as ARC implementation via HDMI was unreliable when that had been perfectly working with my previous Toshiba TV.

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Piscie — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 16:39:51 GMT

Hey @Mike-G1sbn, try to clear the cached data of your TV (settings - system - storage - internal share storage - cached data ), also check the performance of the TV without any external devices connected, and try resetting it from the mains as well, this should help.

Regarding the AV amplifier, is it a Sony one? and have you tried different cables or different audio systems with the TV?

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Mike-G1sbn — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 17:16:02 GMT

Clearing the cache seems to have speeded things up but it seems to like having a minimum of 22MB stored as it will not clear below that figure. Under another post when I complained about the ARC connection to my Yamaha AV amp, I was told that there were incompatibility problems with that beast so reverting to an optical link was recommended and that has solved that problem. As I said, my Toshiba TV and Yamaha AV amp combination gave me no problems and I'm using the same HDMI cable now as I used then.

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Piscie — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 16:55:29 GMT

Hey @Mike-G1sbn, clearing the cache shouldn't clear all the data, there should be some space left. I'd actually recommend trying different HDMI cables instead of the optical and see how that goes, or trying different optical cables as well. You could also try resetting the sound settings and test again. Hope this helps!

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

mdmdmd — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 20:36:31 GMT

I had to smile when I saw your version - I have been absolutely appalled by the terrible quality of the software in my KDL-43WF663. I bought SONY because I had confidence in the brand, and paid extra for the privilage. As a SW professional (Software development manager for 20 years) I would have either fired the software team, if they are the reason the SW is so unbelievably slow and unreliable, OR refused to deliver software on such a low performance hardware platform.

It is also inexcusable that SONY hasn't addressed these problems. A smart TV that cannot reliably run a version of iplayer without 30 seconds start up time and 3 or 4 second delays on reacting to cursor movements is simply crap.

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Piscie — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 14:19:15 GMT

Hi @mdmdmd, what is the current software version on your TV? Is it 8.631? Also, what exactly are the problems you're having with the software?

Re: I will never buy a Sony TV again

Nellie — Sat, 18 Nov 2023 16:40:38 GMT

Agreed ive had the Sony oled for a little under 12 months and it’s completely overranked

internet flags as connected then not connected continuously can’t be relied upon

the times shift simply doesn’t work .. period another Sony pearl to guarantee their continued demise

google tv is useless and can be totally replaced by a 30£ firestick

basically i was well and truely conned by the add man , mines oled simply isn’t worth the money , doesn’t do what a supermarket brand can do and is really a serious lesson when it comes to paying vast sums

apparently you really don’t get what you pay for

yep I’m a MUG