Sony Master Series A9F

Read this experience with Sony – I purchased a Sony Bravia 65 A9F Master Series. It's one of the most expensive 65" tv's in the market. After a few weeks the tv screen went blank. Here is my experience as reported to Sony Technical Services and later as a warrantee request.19 May 2019 SONY AUSTRALIA LIMITED (A.B.N. 59 001 215 354), Level 3, 165 Walker Street, North Sydney NSW 2060.

Dear Sir

Re: Warrantee Request for TV.

I wish to make a request for you to replace my Sony 65 A9F TV as it has a quality defect that is increasing in frequency of occurrence with time.

The circumstances are that on a random frequency ( but on average about 3 weeks between events) the TV loses its picture when on free to air broadcasts. After turning on the unit and selecting the tv station required, the screen stays black. Nothing is on the screen. When I turn the tv off using the remote and then turn it back on again the screen stays black with the exception of one or two lines of white text on the top of the screen showing the station and program information … but no picture . I have called the Sony Service Centre a few times and after trying a number of different things under their instruction I have had to revert to factory settings to restore the picture. This is a very frustrating and time consuming activity especially now that I have a number of apps downloaded and each one needs to be re-activated with user name and password along with the wifi user name and password.

After a number of these occasions I have found that by using the Off/ On button on the right hand side of the rear stand leg I can power down the unit …. wait a moment or two, and then power back up. This causes the Android software to re boot and then the picture is restored.

On advice from the service centre, the software is up to date and the unit has been re-set to factory settings a number of times. Nothing has restored the reliability that I have had with my previous Sony TV’s.

To add a bit more information as to the seriousness of this issue, I had some friends around yesterday. I proudly showed off my new TV which is in a new wall setting ( photo attached). When I turned the unit on it presented a black screen. I turned the unit off using the remote and turned it back on again. The screen remained black as before but this time there was 2 lines of white text showing the TV station id and the program description. I turned the unit off with the remote twice seeking to restore the picture. But in the end I had to power down the unit using the button at the rear of the set … wait a few moments and then power back on. The Android symbols showed on-screen as the software was refreshed and then the screen came to life again. I was acutely embarrassed to have the ‘top of the line’ Sony TV (my latest pride and joy) demonstrate it's unreliability to my friends and family.

I don't think this is satisfactory quality from a company of Sony’s standing in the global market place …and with the best TV that Sony makes.

I would greatly appreciate you replacing this unit with a more reliable unit

After months of discussion and emails I have not had a satisfactory response from Sony.

I share this experience with you because I am deeply disappointed with the Sony organisation not so much because a fault occurred but because their response to that problem has been simply un-acceptable to my mind.

Super expensive and not without faults – I bought this TV with my heart and not my head. It's quite expensive and includes a huge amount of functionality most of us probably will never use. This is a "super smart TV" - meaning it has a complex Android computer built-in. It includes built-in WiFi and Chromecast and with Google Assistant active, you can speak commands into the mic on the remote control. Trouble is, while watching programs, the mic picks up sounds from the speakers and activates the Google Assistant window. Not just occasionally. At least twice every hour. I turned stupid Google Assistant off. That means I have to do searches and enter commands manually. That is VERY tedious on this TV. Setup is relatively easy but there is a very complex menu to change stuff. And good luck with that. It's very complicated.

More bad stuff: Unless it's wall-mounted, the TV screen rests backward slightly on it's electronics backing board which also contains speakers. So what? Well it means the screen collects more dust. And it's not an easy screen to clean. Sony say to use a dry microfibre cloth. That doesn't work. They recommend NOT using any conventional cleaners on the OLED screen lest you damage it...but don't have any damp product to collect the dust. I took my life in my hands by cleaning it with a conventional silicone based spectacle spray. It worked well. More bad stuff: The speakers are [Word Removed]. You'll need a good soundbar. More bad stuff: If you connect the TV to the Internet via an ethernet cable like I did, the downloads are way faster, streaming is no problem, but you lose a lot of functions that you get on WiFi. For example: you can't cast from your tablet to the TV. I'm thinking WiFi might be a better option after all (Google Assistant turned off) - but the jury's still out on that. More bad stuff: the sound turns off for no reason (to the soundbar via ARC cable) and won't turn on unless you reboot the android computer TV by holding the on button down for 6 seconds (not in instructions). It occasionally won't load Netflix for no particular reason. No other internet function is lost, just Netflix. Sigh...reboot again to fix...sort of.

Good stuff: Plenty of functions for tech-heads. Plenty of connectivity. Most importantly, the picture is magnificent - the best I've seen, especially in 4K. Am I glad I bought it? No. I should have bought a cheaper smart 4k TV. And I would if I had my time over - but not an LG. I don't trust their build-quality or their backup.