Loss of i-player on freesat tv.

[defiant]

hi, is anyone else having problems getting the bbc i- player on their  freesat tv model  kdl-32w 5810. the set is connected with an  ethernet cable and was working fine untill about 10 days ago. but now  it will not connect.  please find me an answer.:smileyconfused:

[defiant]

hi martin,     the person who sent the e-mail is the pa of the md.   her address is  nora.wells@sony.eu.com. you can find any md's  e. mail on google, a very usefull tool. hope this helps.  regards.   steve m.

[defiant]

hi, just an update, the repair  crew from telefault in stoke came today and after a few basic tests decided  that this was a fault on the main board and took it away for  repair. they stated that sony are aware of the red button problem but they have not encountered the loss of i-player before.  "HMM".  I  will update on its return.

[defiant]

hello again,  my tv came back today, and the repair man told me the i-player worked fine in their workshop, however in my location the problem remains unchanged, another call to sony and an offer to send it back to the same centre who cannot find a fault. i am now waiting on the service centre reply after i requested a replacement model.

[Catmambo]

Hi Defiant

Its a strange error you are experiencing as it we obviously haven't been able to reproduce it, either by the service centre, nor by my colleagues down in Basingstoke. If there was a wider problem, then everyone with a Freesat TV would be complaining, and as things stand there are just a couple of users who are experiencing a problem, so we really need to try and narrow down the fault here..

Might you be able to test the TV round at a friends house or something? It may be a glitch with your ISP potentially? Who do you presently use?

Thanks

[defiant]

Greetings catmambo,  the current isp that i am using is bt infinity fibre optic broadband.  i have a bt openreach modem and a bt homehub v3 connected to it.  i connect to the tv with an ethernet cable. i also have an xbox connected to the tv via hdmi which i use for xbox live, this connects to xbox with no problems and is used for downloads etc. at the moment i do not have access to another satalite outside of my current post code area. i would like to invite any sony service personnel to visit my house and experience this problem for themselves or to remote control my pc to check on settings for themselves. i await your reply with intrest.  thanks.:smileyconfused:

[Catmambo · Accepted solution]

Hi

You'd need to speak to the local service agent to see if they would come and check it out in home. Some may well be able to.

I guess it still remains that it worked when they apparently tested it in their labs, so that would imply that the TV itself isn't faulty and the glitch lies somewhere else. My thinking behind looking at the ISP is simply thats in theory thats the only variable between your setup and their setup.

Lookng at the wider picture, as BBC aren't developing iPlayer on Freesat and there are no plans to launch any other IP services on those products, one alternative solution could be to look at one of the netbox (SMP-N200) or Blu-ray products we make. This which would give you far better quality iPlayer experience including HD and another 20 or so video services including Channel Five, Lovefilm, Youtube etc with more being added all the time. As your TV itself is still a cracking panel, this might offer a quicker solution whilst also improving content available to you.

Just a thought.

Thanks

[defiant]

hi again, whilst i see your point about the problem perhaps being closer to home, this service did work as intended  at the time of purchase and now it does not, the only change i have made is the firmware upgrade provided by sony and of course the digital switch made by national broadcasters. although the use of a netbox would of course enhance the services available why should it be at my expense.  if this was offered to me by sony as a goodwill gesture and it solved the problem, then of course i would except. otherwise the offer to sony technical staff to visit remains open.  perhaps a tech expert from my nearest sony centre (10 miles away) could tackle the problem on overtime.  just a thought.

[Catmambo]

Hi

I appreciate this must be frustrating for you, but I would recommend maybe ringing your local service centres and see if they might be able to visit you.

Just to be clear, the service does still work and has been confirmed as working at the repair centre on your particular device and on our reference devices, its just not working as part of your current setup due to reasons still undetermined. However logic would suggest that as the device has been tested and found to not be faulty already, then somehow the glitch lies in the delivery of the service to your property somehow which may be a unique error. There are so many variables as part of everyone's unique setup - device, device firmware, device settings, ISP, router model, router firmware, router settings, connection between device ISP etc etc, and any one of these could cause an issue and stop the feature working.

Hope this helps

[defiant]

hello again, have you been appointed by the service centre to provide assistance in response to my e-mail to the md or is this advice offered purely  from a curiosity  posistion.  in answer to your suggestions,  are the local service centres  you suggest contacting paid for under the warranty cover. my nearest service centre is 30 miles away. are the service centre staff trained to deal with network problem, settings etc on home visits, are they prepared to spend 30 mins or more testing routers, isp's connections etc. because if this problem is not dealt with in situ then it will never get fixed.  the sony search facility for local service centres does not appear to work. my service call was arranged through the service centre, there was no choice of repair centre offered. my mobile is 07876434570 if you wish to use it.  you state that this is a fairly unique problem, but not according to this forum or indeed the digital spy forum.  the strange thing is that panasonic freesat models do not appear to suffer this fault. perhaps not very relative but odd.

[davidratcliffe]

I have the exact same problem. TV is on the network and can access photos and so on. It is just iPlayer and some glitches with BBC red button services.  And we are not alone according to a post on digitalspy http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?p=54339283 Sony is aware of the problem:

My KDL-32W5810 has the same problem again starting about 10 days ago (this is the third ‘fault’ in the 18months that I have owned it – the last two have been Freesat Sports multiscreen related and have resulted in the Main Board being replaced on each occasion (do a search on here for Freesat Sports multiscreen and you’ll find the thread)
Currently the problems show themselves as:
• the Red button does not function correctly (often will not appear or do anything evene for basic txt capabiltities) and
• the BBC iplayer does not work; either by red button or on channel 901 (on 901 it states that the TV is not connected to the internet)

I fully checked my TV Network diagnostics and are all OK showing the TV connected with the correct IP address etc and my network is accessible for video playback etc. The router reflects the correct connection and IP and MAC address for the TV.

I initially called Freesat and they confirmed that the iplayer service was functioning normally. I followed this with a call to Sony; they went through the same diagnostics with the TV, router and then we carried out a master reset of the TV. Still the same problems. Their conclusion was that there is a problem with the TV and there is no solution!! They took my details and promised a call back (nothing heard to date).

My TV was from John Lewis so I went through them and the TV went into Peterborough Video Services as their recommended repairer (also a Sony repairer). I cannot fault PVS, however they have not been able to repair it.

PVS state that Sony are aware of the problem – there are a large number of TVs affected. Sony claim it is as a result of a change by the BBC in the way that the iplayer is sent out (although I question this as why does it also effect the general functionality of the red button as well????); it is a software fault for which there is currently no solution and no timescale. It will hopefully be resolved and solved by an over the air update.

I have the TV back and will now do battle with John Lewis over a replacement TV as it is faulty with no repair available!

I am extremely disappointed with the problems I have had with this model. It seems that every time that there is a change by Freesat that the TV cannot cope and requires a hardware or software update. Surely the Software should be updated BEFORE the changes so as to maintain usability of the TV? Why are other manufacturers not affected???

Good luck everyone. I’ll keep you posted.