2015 Bravia Android TV Issues

[NickCo1979]

I thought I'd create a generic thread to cover off the issues being encountered on the 2015 Bravia Android TVs. I've listed my issues below with fixes / workarounds and responses from support. All comments and solutions welcome!

1) Hot Swap HDMI doesn't work - manifested by no input on HDMI channels 2, 3 and 4 on the KD-49X8305C. Workaround - reset the TV, either by holding down the remote power button for 5 seconds or by switching the TV off at the wall and then back on again. Further details on this thread: https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/televisions/kd-49x8305c-hdmi-2-3-4-inputs-not-working/td-p/1944435

2) HDD Recording doesn't work - error message states a system update is required but none is available when checking. Hopefully this will be fixed soon by a firmware update.

3) Netflix App doesn't work - this seems like the app has been deliberately disabled. So far a support case has only recommended that a factory reset be performed (took two days to get to that cracking piece of advice.....), with no improvement as a result. A temporary (albeit for advanced users only) workaround is provided by MikeLothian on this thread - https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/televisions/netflix-support-for-kd55x8509c-android-tv/td-p/1945360 

4) Sound lag and performance issues after the TV (KD-49X8305C) has been on standby for a while - manifested for me as stuttering and sound / picture sync issues in all apps (youtube, amazon instant video etc) and HDMI sources (PS4, seperate YouView box etc). Hopefully this will be fixed in a firmware update, at the moment workarounds involve either changing channels to get the sync to work or in my case having to turn the TV off and then on again at the socket.

As stated previously, all comments welcome. Personally I'm willing to give Sony a couple of weeks to fix this, but if it's not done soon I'll be sending my new TV back for a refund as it's not really fit for purpose.

[Nibor99]

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@KinderEgg wrote:

Damn, thats even worse if they've had it for a while. PAP is really the only feature I want, aside from performance improvements. Hopefully marshmallow comes quick since Nvidia Shield owners reported significant performance gains as a result, and I'm sick of having to rely on my Tivo box since it outputs in 720p only and youview is ridiculously slow.

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KinderEgg,

Have a look in the TiVo settings - I had dreadful picture quality when I first hooked up - but Tivo should be capable of higher output.

I am not too sure where I found it but it is in there somewhere.

Good luck.

[mattface]

Just had my daily discussion with Sony Support.

"Your case has been escalated to the higher support team, we hope to have news soon"

2 weeks since I opened a ticket with them.

Apparently they are working on a firmware upgrade to fix it. I politely explained that's impossible as it's not booting to a point where it could ever upgrade, and I've tried the manual upgrade from a USB stick. Still told the same thing, the higher team are looking into it.

Fed up of waiting, I've got the credit card company to dispute it.

[DarrellM]

I feel your pain.

[Anonymous]

@DarrellM ive sent you a PM, please let me know if it works or not.  Thanks

[Einride]

So after the last couple of updates my TV has been working okay-ish. It gets very sluggish at times, and sometimes there's lip sync issues, but at least those can usually be resolved by rebooting the TV.

Yesterday, however, the TV suddenly wouldn't turn off! It was just telling me that there was no signal on HDMI2 (which I use to connect to my receiver). I use a Logitech Harmony One remote to control the TV, amp and STB, so I figured I had just been to quick to put the remote into the charger. I dug out the original Sony TV remote and hit the standby button, but nothing happened. I used the camera on my phone to verify that the remote was actually sending out something (IR LED lit up), and then tried pretty much every button on the remote. Nothing! I had to pull the plug on the TV to turn it off.

After letting the TV stay off for about 10 minutes, I hit the power button on the Sony remote to turn the TV on again. It lit up, complained about no signal on HDMI 2, and that was it. No buttons on the remote seemed to work.

I finally remembered the small button panel on the back of the TV, and hitting the source input button on there let me switch input. Once I did that, the remote suddenly started working again.

The only upside to this is that it finally got me around to switching to HDMI4 for my receiver, so I could enable ARC instead of using the optical output.

Has anyone else experienced this issue, though? At least I know how to fix it now, but it's still annoying, and my wife wasn't particularily impressed with the TV having issues. Again.

[xx4L0Mxx]

@angelacr

That's a very labourious way of doing it.

A quicker way if you have a rooted phone or tablet ( As you obviously have a rooted phone if you have Titanium Backup on it ).

Go on Playstore and download whatever app you want  on your phone or tablet.

Open ESfile explorer on TV.

Open ESFile explorer on phone. Browse to "Device" - "Data" - "App" - here are a load of folders containing all your apps that you have downloaded, They are obviously labelled as to what they are.

Choose which app you want to send to TV, long press on the app you want, select "Share" - "Share via LAN".........after a few seconds your Android TV will be shown as long as your phone or tablet is on the same network as the TV, tick the box next to your listed TV and hit the "Right Arrow" symbol.

Your TV will now show a message " do you want to receive file" Say "Yes", thats it. You can then install it to TV there and then.

[oodles2do]

@xx4L0Mxx 

The way I do it, is to screen mirror my whole phone (unrooted Sony) and then I can open up the ITV Hub app and play anything and it gets mirrored to the TV. Only downside is I can't lock my phone as it's mapping directly, unlike the All4 app which does it properly.

[DarrellM]

@mattface Look familar? I just made a video, ignore the sound it's the grandfather clock

https://youtu.be/8nPRdADXPPk

[xx4L0Mxx]

@oodles2do

Thats fair enough, but I would rather try to get apps to run on the TV natively and this is a quick and easy way to try them out.

Out of curiosity, what happens if you are screen mirroring to TV and you get a text message? I'm guessing it pops up on your TV screen?

[mattface]

@DarrellM

Yes, identical. Sorry for you.

I'm leaving it with the credit card dispute team, the TV never was fit for purpose and now it's not even a TV. I hope Amazon will just take the hit and direct their wrath at Sony.