Itvx and all4

[penfold72]

I have a KD49XG8096. I can't seem to get itvx or all4 on this unit. Can anyone advise 

[royabrown2]

@penfold72 

Have you switched to the YouView side, or as it might be called, Live & Catchup TV? (I’m not sure if the 2020 changes to YouView were backported to this 2019 TV or not).

Have you tuned in the TV channels? Earlier Sony with YouView sets required this before these two apps (or their earlier equivalents) would play.

Itvx was just called ITV earlier; All4 is the old name for the player now called Channel 4.

[LightFoot]

Hi @penfold72  

Is your TV’s software up to date?

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/lcd-tvs-android-xg80xx_x80xxg_xg81xx-series/kd-49xg8096/s...

[penfold72]

I will check the software version, but I think it's up to date. TV is set to automatically update.

The TV is not plugged into any Aerial I don't have one. It's hdmi to the sky q and Blu-ray player. 

Why would an app need to have the TV tuned into terrestrial channels?

[LightFoot]

Hi @penfold72  As I am sure that you know, you have ITVX (full version including Live) and the Channel 4 App are on Sky Q. The Sony ITVX app is a cut down version as they assume that it will be connected to an aerial. Your guess is as good as ours as to why Sony enforces an aerial be connected.

[penfold72]

Thanks. I've always thought the sky q apps to be a bit poor, always use the TV Netflix app rather than q. I've noticed recently however that Disney+ and paramount+ apps on Sony are getting worse with paramount being worse with lots of juddering and frame drops. Disney is getting the same. 

I'll just use the sky q apps for itvx etc.

Thanks for replying.

[royabrown2]

@penfold72 @LightFoot 

The broadcasters wanted to know what region you were in, for advertising and other purposes in their apps.

This required channels 3 and 4 to be tuned in from a terrestrial aerial, which made this information available.

It seemingly simply didn’t occur to anybody in Sony or YouView that people would buy a Sony TV, and not tune it in with a terrestrial aerial.

But lots of people didn’t, and were cut off from the itv and All4 apps. Cue much muttering, purchase of indoor aerials, return of TV sets to retailers, etc.

In later years, they got the wheeze of having you put your postcode in instead, which did identify a region, but could be gamed. Again, a 2020 change, backported to some 2019 TVs, but perhaps not yours.