Sony TV freezing

[IanB]

I have a Sony xr55A80J Smart TV. Watching Now TV (Sports) the TV sometimes completely freezes up. Nothing works from the remote only option is to switch off at plug. I have taken to doing a TV restart each day which closes off the Now app and that is ok, but I shouldn't have to do that. Interestingly I also have the Sony xr55A90J and that has never had an issue. I have a call open with Sony, but you get all the usual questions like do a factory reset etc. which I've done twice to no avail. Other apps like iplayer, discovery plus etc. all seem to be fine. I use Now superfast Broadband and it is perfectly reliable and TVs are ethernet wired so there aren't any network issues

Does anyone have any experience of this or thoughts?. Thanks

[Pixelz]

I can confirm these freezing symptoms running Now TV app on a Sony KD43X81  It's not limited to sports, it also affects other Now TV subscriptions such as Entertainment.  It's just especially infuriating during live sports.  However, other apps such as Amazon, iPlayer and ITVX are unaffected.

I've tried deleting unused apps to free up storage space without success, and most interestingly there was no freezing until a couple of Sony updates ago.  Maybe I shouldn't be such an early adopter of updates.

[gavs82008]

@Pixelz 

Last time I checked, which was over the weekend my Sony Bravia doesn't have live streaming for ITVX. Is yours a google or android based Sony?

[Pixelz]

My TV is a 2021 model KD-43X81 running Google TV (which seems to be just a rebrand of Android).  It's had ITVX for a few months now.

[RoyB]

@gavs82008 

No live streaming perhaps, but presumably your TV provides On Demand On itvX?

[gavs82008]

@RoyB @Pixelz 

Yes I get ITVX on my Sony Bravia TV, but only the half ar*ed version with no Fast channels or Live channel streaming.

Which is sh*t when I don't have an aerial and never will installed.

[SparkShotSpur]

Same issue on my Sony 65A80J.

It doesn’t happen all the time (once or twice a week) but it’s the only app I use that will suddenly lock the tv and the only solution is to turn off/on at the plug.

[IanB]

@SparkShotSpur 

An update. Finally managed to get an engineer round who tapped a few keys on the remote and 10 seconds later confirmed it to be the motherboard which he duly replaced. However, a few weeks later it froze up again. I tried to complain to Sony and apparently got through to Webridge and told they were the highest level of support. Anyway to cut long story short they have shrugged their shoulders and said since it's only happening with the Now app it must be Now at fault and not the TV and therefore will not do anything further. I'm livid!

[gavs82008]

@IanB 

Well done for getting a Sony engineer out though!

All the extra reasons why I don’t bother with the “Smart” side of TV apps anymore. Sometimes I still use the apps on my Sony TV, but now mainly using my Apple TV that I bought last year. 

[schnapps]

@IanB 

This is a bit of a long  shot but try going into both your Router Settings and Sony TV settings and disable IPV6 if you haven't tried this already.

Worth a shot.

If already tried then ignore this post of mine.