Freeview failure hits Sony recorder owners


The Sony Fail Boat strikes again!

One reason why I always disable the automatic updates setting on my TVs and DVRs.
There's a 12-page thread over on AV Forums, with a possible fix until Sony pull their finger out...
http://www.avforums.com/forums/blu-ray- ... eview.html

Sony seemed to be doing better recently with fail boats. Until this. This will be a right PITHA until this fixed for those that depend on their boxes for their entertainment.

Sony's update FAIL Boat's been especially busy recently, it was the PS3 the other week. Again.

Oops I forgot about that episode. The failboats have been mainly from Microsoft the last few weeks. So what ever happened to quality control with these updates. They must realise that the majority of freeview users are not that technical and if the process to fix the problem is beyond them it will mean a lot of returns or call outs to fix the problem.

I've got a Sony DVD/DVR and it was indeed stuck on update. I've been away all weekend so it didn't affect me until I got home. Just as well I hadn't set anything up to record while I was away.



Thanks for the link. Seems to have fixed my player so far.

The whole methodology for patching freeview boxes is just horrific. They basically broadcast the firmware updates over the air on a 'non-visible' channel. That not only is a massive corruption risk, the range and variety of freeview receivers mean each FW update gets a minimal 'window' before its someone else's turn. Even if Sony get a new FW package out, it could be a month before they get a chance to actually distribute it.

I actually decided to see whether my TV needed an update. It has a built in Freeview decoder and every time I put it on it says new channel information needs to be downloaded. Hardly surprising as it only goes on once every two or three months. I did a scan for any updates over the air and it did not find any. Though how often should it really need to update? The channel listing changes regularly but the basic structure seems permanent. Any such update surely would be check bytes to avoid corruption issues?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk.

That's not firmware, that just means channels have been added/removed and you need to (in effect) 'retune' your receiver to add/get rid of them.


As I say, given the system at work, even if there was one you're actually unlikely to check in the small window it's being broadcast anyway just by checking manually. Most of the better boxes (including Sony's IIRC) actually check on an schedule automatically.


You have to remember freeview receivers (and even more so DVRs) are basically computers. They have a CPU, RAM and an OS. Much like a computer that OS needs updating, either to fix bugs, add new features or because the freeview environment changes. Normally you'd have fairly frequent updates when the box is new, tailing off over time as it's replaced by newer models.


You'd expect so yes. I have heard stories of corrupted downloads though. I suspect though some receivers have been made for the minimal possible cost and that includes coding how firmware updates are applied.

I knew that the channel updates were not firmware as there is another setting for system upgrades which would be firmware. My tv is a few years old now and so has had all its updates from the pattern you described.

My tv is very rarely on, as I watch nearly all my Tv on my iPad, hence the always rescanning for new channels for the rare times I put the TV on. My thought was that Sony really should have checked this firmware update was working.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk.

There's an interesting post on the comments thread of this story on the register

Short version : the problem was some corrupt EPG data sourced from Sky, which most freeview boxes handled transparently but boxes made by Pioneer (all Sony PVRs are actually made by Pioneer) choked on. This was fixed by Sunday.

I can concur at least insofar as my Mac's freeview tuner somehow had some blank entries in it's EPG over the weekend but they resolved themselves by late on Sunday. I don't know if this is coincidence or my Mac just resolved the corrupted entries as blank.