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About 400,000 Bravia TVs are affected by the recall
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If you bought a Sony Bravia LCD or rear-projection screen TV within the past year, you may have a little bit of a problem on your hands. Roughly 400,000 of the TVs which were sold in North America, South America and Asia cannot be turned off or come of out standby mode once they pass 1,200 hours of use.

According to a Sony, users of affected Bravia models can go to its website where they will find instructions on how to have materials sent to them to update their TVs. Owners of Grand Wega models must use that same website to schedule a Sony authorized technician to come to their home to perform the update (all on Sony's dime of course).

Sony is providing the software update at no charge to owners of affected televisions through March 1, 2008. Terms of Sony's limited warranty otherwise continue to apply. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and will continue to provide superior customer service for Sony televisions.

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Sony = Downhill
By jodhas on 2/14/2006 9:06:42 PM , Rating: 1
Sony has been treading downhill for quite some time now.
40,000 employees canned and now 400,000 TV's are gone.
I hate to be a pessimist but the outlook of PS3 doesn't look too good either.

Good old Walkman days...

Seems like Samsung can't do no wrong whereas Sony just seem to get anything right these days.





RE: Sony = Downhill
By tarv on 2/14/2006 9:37:22 PM , Rating: 2
Sony is fast becoming the new Zenith and Samsung the Old Sony.


RE: Sony = Downhill
RE: Sony = Downhill
By The Cheeba on 2/14/2006 9:48:10 PM , Rating: 1
Yep! sounds about right!


RE: Sony = Downhill
By jodhas on 2/14/2006 10:23:11 PM , Rating: 2
That's why Samsung is spending $2 Billion to Build a New FAB in Austin Texas...

$300 Million is just a speed bump dude...

If you want to talk about price fixing, Just 7 years ago, I was charged $500 for my Intel Pentium 200mmx when the factory cost was NO WHERE NEAR $500.

Samsung and Hynix were just the linchpins in the Government crackdown of foreign companies that were doing so well here.

The same Company Micron who induced the investigation DESPERATELY tried to buy Hynix (notably their Eugene FAB) for dirt cheap price. When that failed, the memory investigation ensued.

No matter in which ever way Micron tried to gain the edge, they failed. Look where Micron is and look where Samsung is... Also, Hynix is really well these days as well. They're even thinking about building a new FAB in Eugene as well.

Now compare that with Sony... Unlike their automobile counterparts, such as Toyota, Sony is pretty much getting hammered single handedly by Samsung and Apple is throwing nice little jabs at 'em (ipod) and they will soon dig their own grave with the PS3...

Bookmark this page, and read it after 2 years... you'll see what I mean.


RE: Sony = Downhill
By GTMan on 2/15/2006 3:14:49 AM , Rating: 2
They are going downhill ... because their TV needs a software patch? Get a life!


sony? get the h..l out of here.
By geeg on 2/14/2006 10:10:07 PM , Rating: 2
Everybody hates Sony. Dont you?




RE: sony? get the h..l out of here.
By rocchioo on 2/14/2006 11:14:26 PM , Rating: 2
I had a 26" Sony Bravia $2000 that I returned for a 23" Samsung LCD $750. The Sony was slightly better, but not worth the extra $1250.

I'm starting to really love Samsung. They seems to be making quality products at a fair price.


RE: sony? get the h..l out of here.
By BillyBatson on 2/14/2006 11:31:33 PM , Rating: 2
WOW when did you buy that thing!??!?!?! At costco we sell the 32" bravia LCD by Sony for $1700!!!!!!!! And the philips 32" LCD for $1400 which has the better picture of the 2.


By rocchioo on 2/15/2006 11:12:41 AM , Rating: 2
It was the XBR model. They still sell for $2000 at Best Buy and Circuit CIty.


its because sony changed focus
By rika13 on 2/15/2006 8:14:32 AM , Rating: 2
after getting those movie and record studios, sony changed from a quality electronics company to a media company that makes electroics to support the lucrative entertainment business

dvd and cd players, playstations, and tv's: supports the movie and recording studios and the game development arm via playback of content

the two products that arent blatantly for their entertainment industry:

computers: the vaio, playback dvd's and cd's, but that was back in the day when such was hard to do, now sony is stuck making them to not piss off owners

cameras: a sony throwback to the 80's that made them famous, now sony is stuck making them too




RE: its because sony changed focus
By kattanna on 2/15/2006 11:20:01 AM , Rating: 1
actually the change in sony probably has more to do with the fact that now an american runs sony

they didnt seem to have all these public issues like DRM rootkits and such while they had a japanese person running the show.



By killerroach on 2/15/2006 12:42:55 PM , Rating: 4
Enough with the America-bashing... the rootkit debacle was started by Sony-BMG (a German division) and created by First4Internet (a British company). Explain how that's America's fault.


Scheduled An Apointment
By Digobick on 2/15/2006 10:29:07 AM , Rating: 2
I purchased the Grand Wega KDF-E50A10 last September, and according to Sony's website my TV (based on the serial number) is one of those affected.

Scheduling the appointment was easy through their website; they'll even come out at night or on Saturdays if needed. Very nice!




RE: Scheduled An Apointment
By oldgil on 3/24/2006 3:19:59 PM , Rating: 2
a repairman came out to fix this... and he slept with my wife!!


By fhornmikey on 2/15/2006 12:46:23 AM , Rating: 3
It's really easy to bash on Sony when something goes wrong, and shout the praises of Samsung to the high heavens, but both companies have had problems like this.

Do some research into the MASSIVE geometry problems with their Slim CRT TVs. Over 75% of them had extreme geometry issues for which the only solution was to return the TV and get a new one, more often than not consumers would have to do this 2 or 3 times before they finally recieved a TV without faults.

Problems happen, it's the nature of the consumer electronics business, the important thing is that the company at fault provide quick and honest customer service to their customers.

Sony Trinitron CRT TVs are STILL the reference standard by which the vast majority of reputable reviews judge image quality. Also the Sony SXRD Projection TVs set the image quality standard in projection TVs, beating DLPs in contrast ratio and color saturation.

Pointless hating... no thanks.




Damn
By Gigahertz19 on 2/14/2006 9:39:29 PM , Rating: 2
My parents have been waiting for the 40" Bravia to come into our store here for the last couple weeks so they could buy it. It's an awesome looking TV, one of the best looking LCD TV's I've seen. Colors are great, might have to look at something else but it looks like the problem with them is only minor.

Might have to wait for new models that don't have the problem.




They just found this out?
By tjr508 on 2/15/2006 6:15:06 AM , Rating: 2
One would figure this would have taken roughly 1200 hours to find. ok maybe 1300 if it fell on a weekend or something =p




kit shickers
By konekobot on 2/15/2006 10:13:58 AM , Rating: 2
does anyone really think sony will go under? even with 400 gazillion broken tv's, i still think sony would come out spotless.

plus, they've offered a solution to the problem. when was the last time anyone here had a broken product and the mfc had a technician come out to fix it? most recalls involve YOU taking the product somewhere and then coming back when it's finally fixed. OR... YOU have to box it up, ship it out and then wait for a replacement or whatever.

i don't own many sony things. i think i own an alarm clock, and that's about it. there's a price premium for most of their stuff. they compete well in the upper midrange of consumer products. they don't really have a HIGH end range of anything (qualia isn't really all that impressive at it's pricepoint). ppl bash them, but they're still in business.

the ps3 won't bomb. if anyone here wants to bet that sony will lose money on the ps3 over a 3 year period, then i'll take them up on it. they sold the ps2 at a loss initially, but you can't tell me that was a failed venture. i am however confused by the xbox 360 praise. it's a machine that thrives off tons of FPS style games. if i want hi-def and FPS games, then i'll use my computer. The games are cheaper that way, i don't have to buy and HDTV with a premium price (it's a generally 'new' technology right now), the graphics are better, the framerate better, i get use a mouse and keyboard... FPS games were developed for a PC setup.

lastly, someone mentioned that the government stepped in to combat highly priced foreign electronics. i'm against that. consumers in this country suck. in capitalism you vote with your dollar. if the mfc of a product is charging a price that is too high, then don't buy it. simple as that. No one seems to flinch at a $550.00 graphics card or $780.00 cpu anymore. what the hell is wrong with everyone!?!?! The only reason those products come out at such high pricepoints is that consumers have validated the prices.

I'm poor so $150.00 is a good chunk of change for me. maybe everyone here has something figured out and i'm not in on it. is everyone on this forum rich or something? does everyone here still live with their parents after college? (actually, that's sounds like a good idea to me right about now)




Sony TVs
By andrep74 on 2/15/2006 5:43:09 PM , Rating: 2
I got one of the original 36" Sony Wega XBR TVs, with which I got an "XBR club" card. This unit was (and still is) plagued with a too bright red gun (during low average screen brightness) which means that when the screen is supposed to be black, it's maroon instead. I told the salesman about it, and he said it was "normal". I tried several times to schedule a technician to come look at my 215 lb. beast (think I'm gonna just put that in my car and bring it to them?) from the number on my XBR club card; every time I was put on hold for 5-15 minutes, then hung up on. What I've learned:

1) never get the first edition of anything.

2) Sony had some beautiful sets _on display_...don't put it past them to hand-pick these.

3) the XBR club card was useful to wipe my ass with.




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