I've spent the past 20 years writing about the world of home entertainment technology-first at Home Cinema Choice magazine, where I became Deputy Editor, and for the past 20 years on a freelance basis. In that time I'm fairly confident that I've reviewed more TVs and projectors than any other individual on the planet, as well as experiencing first-hand the rise and fall of all manner of great and not so great home entertainment technologies.
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I am currently a regular contributor to Trustedreviews.com, Techradar.com, Home Cinema Choice magazine, Wired, Pocket-Lint.com and, of course, Forbes. The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. It’s fair to say the AV world isn’t having a great time of it right now, at least where the software part of its business is concerned. Over the past few months I’ve covered an endless stream of botched firmware updates, including a massively overdue Dolby Vision TV update which, um, didn’t actually play Dolby Vision from any external sources. Now it turns out that this Sony software update seems to have carried with it another bug that’s driving many Sony TV owners to distraction.
Since January 17, when the ‘Dolby Vision’ software update rolled out, many owners of 2016/2017 Sony Bravia TVs in North America (the only region that’s so far received the update) are reporting that their TVs have started beeping or crackling/popping loudly when they try to activate certain functions on external cable and satellite boxes. Owners of Sony X900E and many other Sony ranges are experiencing an infuriating audio problem since they received Sony’s most recent software update. For instance, a user with a reports that when he starts playing any program on his Tivo Vox Mini box, his TV suddenly and inexplicably emits a loud beep that lasts for around a second.
An owner of a reports that when he switches from the Apps section on his TiVo Bolt to Live TV, the same loud beep occurs. Two Spectrum Cable users with Sony 55X900E TVs report that since the update, their TVs let out the gratingly loud beep every time they try to fast forward, rewind or pause their Spectrum DVRs.
Another 65X900E owner with a Dish DVR reports the sudden appearance of the loud beep whenever he switches out of the Dish DVR or deletes a recorded program. Similar issues apply to a Sony 65X750D owner in Canada using a Bell PVR. So it goes on across 15 pages (and counting) of. And it becomes clear across these pages (given the range of different cable boxes affected together and the fact that the problems only started following Sony’s January firmware update) that the irritating beeps are clearly an issue with Sony’s firmware rather than anything to do with the cable boxes. Indeed, Sony acknowledges on its forums that its engineering teams are aware of the problem, and has posted a page of workarounds for people to try.
One workaround that seems to work for some is toggling the sound output from their cable boxes between Dolby and PCM audio, suggesting that it’s a problem with the TV’s handling of Dolby audio. For others, though, shifting down the output resolution of their cable box does the trick. These solutions doesn’t seem to work/aren’t available for everyone, though – and having to compromise the performance of your cable/satellite box is hardly an optimal approach!
It’s interesting to note that the issue doesn’t just crop up on Sony TVs with Dolby Vision-capable X1 Extreme chipsets. Those with Sony’s older, standard X1 chipset (which can’t handle Dolby Vision) are also affected.
I have also received confirmation since first publishing this article that Sony’s A1E OLED TVs are also affected by the beeping bug. I’ve approached Sony for comment, and will update this story if/when I hear back. Hopefully they will be able to confirm a post on their Community Forums suggesting a mid to end February fix.
In the mean time, Sony has revealed this week that it can no longer confirm to European Sony TV owners when the ill-fated Dolby Vision software update might start to roll out there. Which isn’t really surprising in the circumstances! — If you liked this story, you might also like these: Follow me on Twitter, or read my other Forbes articles via my. RECOMMENDED BY FORBES.