After suffering a recurring fault with my 6 year old Sony Bravia LCD TV for the last two months and being unable to remedy it myself by retuning, factory re-sets and removal of extraneous cables (Scart, HDMI, D-Sub) I contacted Sony UK's Service Centre who pushed me back to the local Sony Service Centre.

 

I was told there's been a change in the signal transmitted by BBC and ITV and that this is effecting certain Sony sets. Apparently, there is nothing that can be done by the Service Centre and that the matter rests with Sony UK are trying to resolve the problem with the broadcasters.

 

I'm finding this a bit hard to believe as the exact fault I am having was reported with various Sony sets back in 2010 and was attributed by commentators on Sony's own consumer web-forum to a hardware fault in one of the 4 or 5 boards in the sets.

 

Basically, whenever you change channel, the TV set momentarily switches itself off (The screen goes blank/black, the audio turns off and the status light on the front of the set goes out) and then switches itself on again, resuming at the station it was tuned to. This happens across the full range of stations/channels (1-800) i.e. on any of the multiplexors and it happens irrespective of whether I use the remote or the switches at the side of the set to change channel. Disconnecting all extraneous cables doesn't alter this behaviour.

 

Has anybody on this forum encountered this problem or the current line in fairy stories that Sony UK and their Services Centres is punting as to the cause ?

 

 

Nick

Edited 23 March, 201511 yr by Clunkclick

Our Bravia LCD in the kitchen [around 3yrs old] doesn't behave like that.

 

Sounds like a load of cobblers to me...

I had to bin 2 Sony TV's due to the 'big changeover' which happened a while back. They were probably older than yours though.

Plate on the back of the set states 9/2009 as date of manufacture.

 

6 years of use is not acceptable for +£300 piece of kit. My last Sony CRT lasted 19 years.

 

This, amongst other things, leads me to believe the Broadcaster problem is a load of ****e:-

 

http://community.sony.co.uk/t5/televisions/bravia-kdl-40v5810-keeps-turning-itself-off-and-on-help/td-p/200964

 

But both Sony UK HQ and the local Sony Service Centre are using the same hymm sheet, they both say its a broadcaster problem. Lieing tosspots.

 

 

Nick

Consumer laws, not fit for purpose. Job done

My problem was different to Nick's but it was down to my 'older' digital TV's not being able to handle (IIRC) the greater frequency range that the digital switchover enabled. Something about 4k and 8k springs to mind?

 

Talking about Sony customer service though - one of those TV's was bought when digital tv commenced in 1998. It turned out that they'd not fully enabled the cam slot though so they replaced every one of those TV's with a brand new model about a year later when Pay TV service properly started. I didn't think I'd have much hope the second time around though.

Consumer laws, not fit for purpose. Job done

 

has it lasted a reasonable time? keep in mind “reasonable” is “that (which) a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory" and who we’re referring to… :p

My ancient Panasonic CRT TV and decrepit Freeview box were both working fine up till I ditched them for a new 4K TV a couple of months ago; Sony are BS'ing IMHO.

 

There is a reason Sony are going down the pan - and customer care like this is part of it.

Edited 23 March, 201511 yr by GentleGiant

I had similar with Sony over a vcr bought from a Sony store. Wasn't a cheap one either. Was almost £200 worth (DVD recorders were still too expensive and had 2 competing formats)

Got the whole out of warranty BS, threw consumer acts at them and got a full refund and something for my trouble. Worked opposite their HQ in Weybridge

Last time I bought anything Sony. Bought a Samsung DVD recorder instead, and it's still working and under my TV as I type some 10 years later.

After suffering a recurring fault with my 6 year old Sony Bravia LCD TV for the last two months and being unable to remedy it myself by retuning, factory re-sets and removal of extraneous cables (Scart, HDMI, D-Sub) I contacted Sony UK's Service Centre who pushed me back to the local Sony Service Centre.

 

I was told there's been a change in the signal transmitted by BBC and ITV and that this is effecting certain Sony sets. Apparently, there is nothing that can be done by the Service Centre and that the matter rests with Sony UK are trying to resolve the problem with the broadcasters.

 

I'm finding this a bit hard to believe as the exact fault I am having was reported with various Sony sets back in 2010 and was attributed by commentators on Sony's own consumer web-forum to a hardware fault in one of the 4 or 5 boards in the sets.

 

Basically, whenever you change channel, the TV set momentarily switches itself off (The screen goes blank/black, the audio turns off and the status light on the front of the set goes out) and then switches itself on again, resuming at the station it was tuned to. This happens across the full range of stations/channels (1-800) i.e. on any of the multiplexors and it happens irrespective of whether I use the remote or the switches at the side of the set to change channel. Disconnecting all extraneous cables doesn't alter this behaviour.

 

Has anybody on this forum encountered this problem or the current line in fairy stories that Sony UK and their Services Centres is punting as to the cause ?

 

 

Nick

Where do you live Nick? I found this during a quick look on line a to the transmission changes.

Would never buy sony again. Had one about 15 years ago and after about 4 years 2 of the colour tubes failed. Sony wanted nearly £175 each to replace which was nearly double the price of the tv. I called Sony and was told in writing "it's just one of those things".

Have never bought anything from Sony since.

An av engineer on  the "Just Answer" service has responded to my query as to what was causing the fault. He tells me that its a common problem with the  main board - the EEPROM fails and that its uneconomic to repair as I'm told the mainboard costs $225 in the States.

 

To confirm the situation in the UK, I contacted Sony UK's nominated parts supplier and repairer (Who are actually local to me) and they advised that the part is no longer available.

 

So that's less than 6 years spares availability for a TV made in September 2009. Compared with the likes of Honda, who used to boast about maintaining at least 10 years spares availability,  that's what I call **** poor !.

 

Looks to me as if Sony are disappearing down the hole marked "Olympus".

 

Seems the Japs are loosing their USP - reliability.

 

Wake-up Tokyo !

 

Any recommendations for a reliable and long--lifed replacement ?

 

 

Postscript

 

With the recent fashion in the global capitalist market to produce shorter and shorter lifed products,  all this constant re-manufacturing, exchange and  re-distribution between the World's trading nations to replace poor quality products  is shagging the Planet (In terms of carbon emissions) , the UK balance of payments and consumers pockets - the only people that benefit from this corrupted model are the financiers, as usual. Why not make 'em in the UK. I'd happily pay £50 extra on a set if I knew it was guarenteed  10years life, had 10 years spares coverge and was manufactured in the UK. Anybody ?

 

 

Nick

Edited 24 March, 201511 yr by Clunkclick

I thought given the Sainsbury's debacle you'd have been all over this by now-https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=FYkRVfyeN4at7Abj4oCACQ&url=http://www.theguardian.com/money/2006/mar/25/consumernews.howtocomplain&ved=0CCwQFjAD&usg=AFQjCNEMTXlPmlvlzxgWUYbEeOWikIDaxw&sig2=Wp4vVdluWr0YSHkczBFezg

Any recommendations for a reliable and long--lifed replacement ?

 

 

Look at Samsung kit. I have a Samsung 32" LCD HD 1080p TV that's getting on for seven years old now and still has a crisp, sharp image. I've become a bit of a Sam Boi TBH. Had a new mobile under contract from Sony and it's pants compared to a Samsung equivalent.

 

Older Sony stuff seem more robust; SWMBO has a Sony 32" CRT TV that's still going strong, 100Hz, quality picture. They've gone downhill and fallen behind.

Sounds like rubbish to me, the big thing that has recently is the introduction of the 4G phones - the 4G spectrum is very close to some the tv signals and can cause interference. There was a campaign to introduce filters in the regions affected.

I thought given the Sainsbury's debacle you'd have been all over this by now-https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=FYkRVfyeN4at7Abj4oCACQ&url=http://www.theguardian.com/money/2006/mar/25/consumernews.howtocomplain&ved=0CCwQFjAD&usg=AFQjCNEMTXlPmlvlzxgWUYbEeOWikIDaxw&sig2=Wp4vVdluWr0YSHkczBFezg

Right. A letter of complaint will be winging its way to Mr De Pauw at Sony UK, Weybridge:-

 

http://www.ceoemail.com/s.php?id=9206&c=Sony UK

 

I had the same situation with A Bosch dishwasher four years ago. Multiple service engineer visits to replace the main pump, which just kept on failing. Luckily it had been purchased through John Lewis.  One letter of complaint and I got a brand  new unit and an extended warranty. The service engineer told me he would have complained at the outset.

 

It will be interesting to see if Sony compare with John Lewis

 

Postscript

 

Apparently, new LCD panels are rated for 100,000 hours MTBF - my sets nowhere near that even at 10 hours use a day for 6 years. One would have hoped that the electronics that support the panel are similarly rated ?

 

 

 

Nick

Edited 28 March, 201511 yr by Clunkclick

Hopefully, I should be OK as regards the legitamcy of the claim as the TV was purchased at the end of January 2010.

 

On the Money Saving Expert (Martin Lewis) site that there are reports of John Lewis customers, with 5 year warranties,  suffering the same fault in 2009 on high priced Sony Tvs (£6,000 ?).

 

I would speculate that John Lewis won't be stocking Sony for much longer if they're having to shoulder those sort of losses.

 

 

Nick

I have 2 philips tv atm. 37" in living room is neigh on 8 years old now and never had a single fault. Kids room is an old 14" crt which is nearly 20 years old and still going strong.

I have 2 philips tv atm. 37" in living room is neigh on 8 years old now and never had a single fault. Kids room is an old 14" crt which is nearly 20 years old and still going strong.

 

That is really good, especially as Philips TVs have one of the worst reliability reputations on the planet.

I've never had any problems with philips, even blu Ray and DVD players.

I've got an ancient Panasonic CRT TV ( TX-PM28PM1)which was late dad's pride and joy. Music sound and cinema vision( if selected), still going strong. ( I'd no intention of leaving it in a recycle place for Wayne & Wanyetta to reject ). I use a HUMAX  STB into this and have few problems .But then I'm only about 15 miles from one of the strongest transmitters in the UK. Admittedly I have line of sight problems, but I use a Maplin signal meter to peak the signal .

A friend of mine has just acquired a free  Broadcast Grade 1 monitor. It's a big old CRT lump and only SD, but the colours are incredibly accurate

Some of the old broadcast stuff was excellent. In the old Gpo repeater station, we "acquired " a pair of broadcast speakers, which we had one radio station give us a feed down a broadcast quality link(- official excuse= to ensure link was always operational = good will gesture to us) , and to those of us used to listing to broadcast quality ,the  quality was amazing.

BUT don't forget ,as we get older, the vision & hearing never stay HD or HI FI. (FLAT FROM 20HZ- 20K)

Edited 30 March, 201511 yr by VWD

Some of the old broadcast stuff was excellent. In the old Gpo repeater station, we "acquired " a pair of broadcast speakers, which we had one radio station give us a feed down a broadcast quality link(- official excuse= to ensure link was always operational = good will gesture to us) , and to those of us used to listing to broadcast quality ,the  quality was amazing.

BUT don't forget ,as we get older, the vision & hearing never stay HD or HI FI. (FLAT FROM 20HZ- 20K)

Oooh as you mention the GPO, I am guessing you got Spendors or possible the famous LS3/5s? (I used to work in Radio ) I remember wiring up the lines for an OB, to the GPO bock that was usual just out of reach up a pole By the time you got it down, the paper instructions on which pair was which, were usually wet and smudged Happy days

Lady- E ,In my latter days ,I NEVER climbed a pole- not something an internal TO did. We had minions to do that for the BBC blokes, AND they always provided a ground feed for the BBC FOLKS . The amp/ speakers were massive, about four foot high, by at least   two foot square. Two speaker fixtures, which got take up stairs for the Xmas party. I've memories of being caught in a corner by one randy telephonist , who had ideas of getting me in a dark corner,.