Official Sony KDL-XXZ5100 Owner's Thread - Page 69

That is a crazy story. Sounds like they hired some of the old management from Circuit City.

Yes, it's a crazy story. But the sad thing is that it's all too plausible to anyone who's ever had to deal with 'customer service' at Fry's. There's a reason why they can offer such amazing deals on so many things, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that they seriously scrimp on the customer service/employee end of things...

Always triple check anything you by at Fry's, BEFORE you get to the checkout counter. They have a bad habit of putting returned product back on the sales floor as new.
I would never buy anything from Fry's that appeared to have been opened. It should have been a huge red flag that it was the last item on the shelf.

FYI: you should have asked him if he would prefer that you file a complaint with the state accusing them of selling used items as new.

Well I emailed Randy Fry, and quickly received a response from a manager. He wants to talk to me on the phone ASAP. I suppose it may be because I told them I would post my story on as many electronics and shopping forums as possible to warn potential customers....

A little late for that. Their always sorry after they've screwed you over. I'm sure they'll offer many apologies, and maybe a store voucher/coupon too, but what will happen the next time you need customer service.
Personally, I would make sure they know the EXACT person who was rude to you so that he can be dealt with, but then again I'm a vindictive SOB.

I actually took down the names of all employees involved so I am planning to give the manager the names.

Hope this makes sense...

Anybody know if sound adjustments such as SteadySound or ClearVoice are passed through the optical out? Or does the optical out just pass through the raw bitstream?

Haven't seen Will Munshower around in a couple of weeks...seems very quiet without him...

I hope all is well with Will. Maybe he's just been busy.

Same here. Uncharactersistic that he's absent for this long. Hey Will, if you're out there, give us the high sign! I'll PM him as well.

---> Firmware Version aa0178pn <---

What does this do?
Sony has designed the BRAVIA® Televisions software update process to be customer friendly. This software update (version aa0178p) provides the following benefits:

Improvement over version aa0153pn:

• New Widget Services allowing Video Playback
• New BRAVIA® Internet Services. (Picasa and Pandora®)

Benefits provided by previous updates and included in version aa0178pn:

• Adds support for the Netflix® online movie rental service to the BRAVIA Internet Video® function.
• Provides additional functionality for Yahoo® widgets.
• Improves the use of the Network functions (Internet Video and Widgets).
• Improves audio & video synchronization when playing network videos.
• Addresses intermittent issues experienced by some customers, including the following:
• The television picture freezes momentarily, then the TV powers off and then on. This may occur shortly after powering on the TV, while viewing programming, changing channels, or using the TV's xross media bar.
• When changing channels, the TV powers off and the POWER/STANDBY LED flashes red. Pushing the Power button again (only once) restores the TV's function.
• When viewing 1080p formatted signals through the Component (Y/Pb/Pr) Input, a horizontal scratch-like line may appear on the screen.
• Intermittent response from a Remote Commander® control unit when the TV is first turned on and the backlight is dim.
• The television turns off and then back on again when powering on the TV with a programmable Remote Commander.
• Correction of the "Current time has been lost. Please reset the time" message repeatedly coming up.

So nobody reported problems with this F/W right? Any changes need to be done to calibration? dsskid, have you updated yet?

No problems found on my end. I did fine tune my calibration settings a few days ago, but not because of the firmware update (I don't think so, anyway). My new settings can be found in my signature.

I do find that the TV has to be on a good 5-10 minutes before it reaches peak light output for the settings.

-Best,
John

Good to know. I always used to think that cfl's were at full brightness almost immediately, until I replaced all my kitchen can lights with cfl floods...they take at least 5 minutes to reach peak brightness...who'da thunk...

Yeah, I thought the same thing. After 2 hrs of calibrating, the display looked great. Next day, I turned it on, not so great.....until it warmed up. Then it looked great again.

Wow, you can actually tell a difference? Wish my eyes were so good!

I wish I didn't. That's what happens when you stare at way too many displays.

Exactly. It can be both a blessing and a curse.
I wish I didn't know a lot of things about the a/v topic that I never used too.
Sometimes ignorance is bliss..

Very true. I was visiting my parents in California this past weekend, and noted that my Dad's Sony (a 4-year old E42A10) had a slight yellow stain in the center of the screen. Of course, I immediately pointed it out to him, and he really couldn't see it, until I was able to find a white scene, then WHAM...he sees it, and couldn't STOP seeing for the rest of the weekend! Until my visit, he loved his tv!

I also looked at AVSForum to verify that his model is included in the Sony replacement program, and sure enough it is. So he called, and is awaiting his email offer. Bottom line, my knowledge turned out to be a blessing for him, as he had no idea he could get a brand new tv for little or no money...but until then, he will continue to swear at that damn yellow stain!

Yes, he can probably get a free replacement.

Funny thing.

I have a friend who is a stock trader, and he is so consumed by it, everything he sees (commercials, products, stores, etc) he equates to a stock. I was laughing at him the other day and my wife turned and looked at me and recited the "pot calling the kettle black" referring to how neurotic I am when it comes to displays.

If I go to a friend's house and see a poorly calibrated TV, I think nothing of asking them if I can adjust it. You can only imagine what happens what happens when I walk into Best Buy.

They have the "calibrated display" next to the "out of the box" display. I love tweaking the "out of the box" display to resemble the "calibrated one" when the salesman is not around. Then watch the customer's reactions when they can see the difference beetween the two.

So yeah, once you develop a good eye and see what a display is supposed to look like, you notice every imperfection.

I think I need therapy.

I think anyone with more than 500 posts on this forum needs therapy, or a life...

Hey, gentlemen!

I'm still kicking. I've just had a ton of stuff to deal with. I'll be back to annoy all of you fine folks, all too soon!

Hi Will, good to see you.
Hopefully nothing medical or too serious.
-John

Hello all,

I've been lurking on here since I got my KDL 46Z5100 about 3 months ago. The TV has been absolutely perfect. I hadn't explored any of the Internet features until just recently when I hooked the TV up to my home network using a Cisco WET610N. Again the TV was fine with the original Firmware it came with etc.

Well, then their was some online content which wasn't available unless I upgraded to the newest firmware. This was the 0153 version. Now since doing that upgrade the TV reboots constantly when just watching cable tv content. It will be ok for an hour or two and then if you change a channel or even just raise the volume boom it starts rebooting and wont stop unless you turn it off. I'm so upset about this its just killing me. Especially when the sony site says the updates was supposed to fix these random reboots. I never had a reboot in the 3 months I had the TV until i did the upgrade. Now i see there is yet another upgrade available but It doesn't mention addressing reboots at all.

What if any suggestions might you fine folks have? As I said I've been reading and lurking here for 3 months and the calibration info and other tips I've picked up have been terrific so I'm hopeful you guys can help me resolve this. I would hate to have to start calling Sony for help. I do have the extended warranty from Best Buy if I have to go that route but maybe you guys can help me first.

Thanks.

Angel

Angel, if there is another fw update available, I would suggest going ahead and updating it again.
At this point, you really have nothing to lose.
Basically, your choices are...

a) Call Sony support and have the tv serviced.

b) Update the fw if another revision is available, and hopefully it fixes the problem.
If it still has the problem after updating, again you'll have to call Sony and have it serviced.

Angel,

If you read back a bit you will see that I had issues with random booting when using the intenet features and DVD's. The newest firmware helped some but the reboots did still occur. I called Sony and they had the main board replaced. That did not fix the issues so then they replaced the TV for me. It actually worked out pretty well for me because they replaced a 40" Z5100 with a 46" (brand new unit). In any case, call and they will take care of you whatever it takes.

Ok guys so I just updated to the latest over the air update which is 0176 on my TV screen. It did nothing to fix the rebooting. It starting rebooting almost immediately. I see the download file on the E-Support site is 0178. Is their a difference between these two updates? Again i guess I have nothing to lose by trying it. If this doesn't work I may try and work a swap out with the Best Buy store i got it from before going through Sony. I've had some success with that in the past.

Thanks for the suggestions.

^ I think 0176 and 0178 are probaly the same, but as you say, it couldn't hurt to try it.

I was getting a few funky problems with my 46Z last month, different from your issues... Menu button wasn't working, Info Banner displayed 24/7, couldn't switch inputs, and a few other things. Sony Chat Support suggested I reset the TV to factory settings and that did the trick. You can try it to see if it works... Good Luck!

Bethany_ > Please follow the 4 steps to reset the TV to the factory settings.
Bethany_ > Please turn ON the TV.

Bethany_ > While holding down the UP arrow button on the Remote control, please press the POWER button on the TV.
Bethany_ > The TV will turn itself OFF, then back ON again.
Bethany_ > Release the UP arrow button.
Bethany_ > Please note that the RESET will clear all of your customized settings on the TV including the Parental Lock setting.

Andre Afoon > up arrow and power does not turn tv off
Andre Afoon > oops trying again

Bethany_ > Did you press the POWER button on the TV (Not the Remote Control) while holding down the UP button on the circular control button of the Remote control?

Andre Afoon > yes... i had to press the power on the tv twice to get it to power off, but it wouldn't power on again. all this time i had the up arrow pressed on the remote

Bethany_ > While holding down the UP arrow button on the Remote control, please press the POWER button on the TV.

Andre Afoon > did that, nothing happens. if i press the power on the tv a second time the tv powers off, but does not power back on

Bethany_ > Did you press the Power Button on the TV itself?

Andre Afoon > yes... tried a few more times, and it finally worked.
Andre Afoon > now the sources are all working and the info banner has disappeared.

Ok folks. I'm now upgraded to 0178 and still rebooting. I've been experimenting all day and i did come up with some questions and ideas.

First i took the TV off my network - No difference.

Then I noticed that if i switched input to HDMI4 which is my BluRay player it would stop rebooting. Whether a disc was playing or not. As soon as I switched back to HDMI1, which is the cable box, boom back to rebooting.

So then i got to wondering if the Cable box was putting out some strange signal that was turning off TV. I then went into the HDMI settings and turned off the HDMI control which was really only communicating with my BluRay player. The cable box never showed up in HDMI control so i always figured it just wasn't a compatible device for this feature. At any rate as soon as I turned off HDMI control the rebooting stopped.

So now I'm wondering is it a bad cable box Scientific Atlanta 8300HD? Or could it be a bad HDMI cable coming from the cable box? I wasn't able to switch cables today and try because the bluray HDMI cable wouldn't reach the cable box.

At any rate thats where i am now. I'll try it another day with the HDMI control off and see what happens.

Angel