Sony TV faults

Robisere

4 years ago I bought a Sony KDL 40RD 453 from Currys. I never used the Ethernet port or the WiFi in my old home, nor made any recordings via the USB port: we had a Humax Freesat HDR-1100S for that. Then moved to a quite modern apartment in town and discovered that the Freesat has no connection, so determined to use the TV internet. Followed all the Sony manual and Support information (downloaded from their site) and nothing worked. There is one ethernet connection for the router, not anywhere near the TV, so I tried WiFi first; no joy. Then I bought 2x Netgear Powerline adapters (PLP1000) to setup power socket connection to my desktop from the router, 2 rooms and an intervening corridor apart. This adds Ethernet to the desktop, works perfectly and knocks out great speeds. OK, I thought, I'll add another adapter and add give the TV an ethernet connection. Followed all the Sony instructions, which are different for ethernet as opposed to WiFi. Does not work. Then I thought, OK I have Freeview, I could record programmes via USB.I already had an almost new external 3.5" Hard Drive, so I formatted that as per Sony advice, as NTFS, connected to the USB port marked "REC" . Hdd was recognised, as had not happened before. Something on this box works for once, I thought. Yes it does, BUT if I am recording a programme, I cannot watch another! Which is just about the daftest misuse of a TV function I can imagine.

Eventually a friend took pity on me and sold me at a good price, the Amazon Fire TV that his mum could not get into. Which gave me Prime TV and Netflix if I want it, plus all the OD services I might need.

I LIKE Sony gear: I have a Sony digital camera, wife and I have Sony Xperia phones, I even have a Sony soundbar. They all work perfectly, no faults. Is it that I just have the exception of a faulty Sony TV, or do others have problems with them? The picture, btw, is great, aerial reception is fine. We are fine with HD, our degraded eyesight at 74 and 75 cannot perceive much difference between HD and UHD. Can't afford a new one yet, maybe in a few months: moving home has taken a big slice and we do not ever buy until we can afford to pay the full whack. But I will consider another manufacturer when we do buy and it will be no bigger than a 43".

cranford

Are you sure the 453 will connect to the Internet? The manual seem to say its the 65x model that does and I can find nothing in the spec. As well as using  the Fire TV you can find "Now TV" sticks on Ebay for about £10 and you can use without a subscription. It very common for TV's that can record onto a USB device to only record the station you are watching, you need a TV with more that tuner to do otherwise.
For a while I watched blurred  TV but  a couple of years back at 73 I got my cataracts done, I bit of a wait on NHS but worth it and better that paying £5k privately.

another_casualty

I don't know whether amazon tv has the normal tv stations that you get with freeview / freesat if that's what you're after. 
Not sure if you understand freesat, but that only works with a sky dish as far as I know.
I have freesat  because the place I moved into has a sky dish . I had to pay for installation though .
In my previous flat I was with Bt and had their BT Hub . It wasn't great for me , even with power adapters . Maybe it's best if you joined one of the various companies for free view /sat.  If not, I haven't a clue .
Hope it helps ..

Robisere

Cranford: thanks for the information, but if the 40 RD I have was not supposed to connect to the internet, why would it have an Ethernet port and a WiFi connection?- In the Guide that came with the TV and the manual I downloaded from Sony Support, there are instructions how to connect. Which didn't work. Glad your cataracts were sorted, mine are not considered bad enough yet. I now know that having only one tuner stops me from watching and recording from USB, but that does not show in any Sony literature I read, before I tried it.

another_casualty: Thank you. I had a Humax HDR-1100S for several years in the last house, used it with an ex-Sky dish and two cables for two tuners. So yes, I understand Freesat very well: I actually bought and fitted a Freesat-compatible  LNB for the dish. It would not work here in the apartment because there is no dish and I cba to bother with all that again. So I sold the Humax, in the expectation that I would be able to connect the TV to the internet. Great expectations! I have Plusnet and a healthy 73 to 75 Mbps Download, but don't want their TV service. I am fine now with either Amazon Prime or Freeview from the Aerial.

debitcardmayhem

Hi , just a question have you tried the TV using the powerline adapter that works fine with the PC , and vice versa ?

Robisere

debitcardmayhem: thank you, but this is from my original first post:

" Then I bought 2x Netgear Powerline adapters (PLP1000) to setup power socket connection to my desktop from the router, 2 rooms and an intervening corridor apart. This adds Ethernet to the desktop, works perfectly and knocks out great speeds. OK, I thought, I'll add another adapter and add give the TV an ethernet connection. Followed all the Sony instructions, which are different for ethernet as opposed to WiFi. Does not work."

Yes, thanks for the suggestion, but as you can see I tried that.

debitcardmayhem

You missed my point have you tried with the original adapter which works , not with the "add another" adapter

thorganby

Robisere said:

4 years ago I bought a Sony KDL 40RD 453 from Currys. I never used the Ethernet port or the WiFi in my old home, nor made any recordings via the USB port: we had a Humax Freesat HDR-1100S for that. Then moved to a quite modern apartment in town and discovered that the Freesat has no connection, so determined to use the TV internet. Followed all the Sony manual and Support information (downloaded from their site) and nothing worked. There is one ethernet connection for the router, not anywhere near the TV, so I tried WiFi first; no joy. Then I bought 2x Netgear Powerline adapters (PLP1000) to setup power socket connection to my desktop from the router, 2 rooms and an intervening corridor apart. This adds Ethernet to the desktop, works perfectly and knocks out great speeds. OK, I thought, I'll add another adapter and add give the TV an ethernet connection. Followed all the Sony instructions, which are different for ethernet as opposed to WiFi. Does not work. Then I thought, OK I have Freeview, I could record programmes via USB.I already had an almost new external 3.5" Hard Drive, so I formatted that as per Sony advice, as NTFS, connected to the USB port marked "REC" . Hdd was recognised, as had not happened before. Something on this box works for once, I thought. Yes it does, BUT if I am recording a programme, I cannot watch another! Which is just about the daftest misuse of a TV function I can imagine.

Eventually a friend took pity on me and sold me at a good price, the Amazon Fire TV that his mum could not get into. Which gave me Prime TV and Netflix if I want it, plus all the OD services I might need.

I LIKE Sony gear: I have a Sony digital camera, wife and I have Sony Xperia phones, I even have a Sony soundbar. They all work perfectly, no faults. Is it that I just have the exception of a faulty Sony TV, or do others have problems with them? The picture, btw, is great, aerial reception is fine. We are fine with HD, our degraded eyesight at 74 and 75 cannot perceive much difference between HD and UHD. Can't afford a new one yet, maybe in a few months: moving home has taken a big slice and we do not ever buy until we can afford to pay the full whack. But I will consider another manufacturer when we do buy and it will be no bigger than a 43".

It does not matter how many different power line adapter you try, as they are not the problem.

Your Sony KDL 40RD 453 is not faulty, you have simply made incorrect assumptions about it's connectivity.

The specification reveals that it is a basic TV and not a smart TV:

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/televisions-projectors-lcd-tvs/kdl-40rd453/specifications

It may have an Ethernet port but the user manual states that this is input only:

"This TV supports additional content/services
provided by the MHEG Internet Connected
Services feature. General Internet (IPTV/Web
service/e-mail, etc.) is not supported by this
TV."

Your model is not equipped with WiFi:

"Wi-Fi Setup (except KDL-40R45xB,
KDL-32R41xB)"

No need to consider another manufacturer, simply research products properly before you buy!

RumRat

Yes, the ethernet connection is to enable IPTV channels via Freeview HD, which has been a requirement since around 2011.
So, no internet and no WIFI as thorganby describes.