KD-49X8309C Common expectations yet to be delivered.

[Me1971]

I bought the Sony KD-49X8309C recently based on the many positive reviews I found online.

Having taken delivery, and setting up, I was surprised at the lack of some basic features that were present on a small screen Samsung TV that I had previously used - notably no ability to set reminders on Freeview.

I was also expecting to be able to record/pause and replay TV using a USB Stick/Hard Drive albeit formatted exclusively for that purpose - Again the feature is missing despite it being advertised.

Surprisingly there is also no support for Bluetooth headphones.

These are the features that I miss and from searching online I'm not alone.

Can we have a confirmation regarding the future implementations and timescale?

[Me1971]

I'm both surprised and disappointed that I haven't received a reply from Sony in particular yet regarding my questions.

I'd assumed, since this forum is provided by them, that they would address queries raised by customers.

Sadly, so far, I remain as unimpressed as many others appear to be on other global sites, also offered by Sony, regarding both Identical issues with this TV model and others apparently suffering similar issues.

Please, come on, I expected better from a traditionally reputable and well establisted name in consumer electronics.

[Anonymous]

Hi there

Sorry no one has responded to your questions.  Let me see if I can answer them.  Firstly though, even though this is a Sony forum, they do not generally respond to questions - hence the reason why its called a 'Community Forum'.

Question 1 - Reminders

This is a feature on non-android based TVs.  I am not too sure why this has not been included - I have even checked the YouView Support website and I cannot find documentation.  @royabrown might be able to explain this one.  If not, I will pass this onto Sony as a feature request.

Question 2 - Recording/Pausing TV

You can record TV programs to a HDD, however YouView must be disabled in order to do so.  In regards to pausing live TV (or Timeshift), this should be implemented in the next update to Android called 'Marshmallow' - unfortunately there is no ETA when this will be released yet, just 'soon'

Question 3 - Bluetooth Headphones

This has been one of the most requested features, however unfortunately this will not be implemented in the current generation of Android TVs (2015 and 2016).

Cheers

[Me1971]

Many thanks for your very helpful reply Quinnicus.

It appears that things just aren't as well integrated with this model as they should be, which is a pity.

Fingers crossed that in the near future, the ability to record and set reminders will be extended to the Youview facility.

I'm disappointed that Bluetooth headsets aren't likely to be supported on Sony's currently available models. I'd have thought that with a relatively simple extension to the current Bluetooth handler that the protocol could easily be made available via a future firmware update.

[robsonyrob]

I 'upgraded' from a two year old LG TV, and expected that once I registered (formatted) my hard drive it would be ready to record, pause and fast forward to the disk in much the same was as my old TV.

More fool me...
I hope they get that one sorted out very quickly,  even my 21" Akura (cheap TV) which is 5 years old, lives in the kitchen, and is no way a 'smart TV', can do timeshift to a usb drive so come on SONY....

[Marino.Manolo]

Hi all,

one of the first smartphone that I had was a SonyEricsson Xperia X10 mini pro, with Android version installed I could not transfer the phonebook from smarphone to PC via Bluetooth, like a simple Nokia with PC Suite. This all in 2010.
Where is Nokia now?
This is like a situation with Android TV and Timeshift or other function who will integrated.

Sorry for my poor english.

Manolo

[Me1971]

Sadly I have to agree.

I now regret buying Sony. I did quite a bit of research online prior to committing to the model and had seen many positive reviews - with hindsight, if I'd only dug a bit deeper regarding the features, I'd have made a very different choice.

It's extremely unlikely that I will ever buy another Sony product again and based on my experience, I certainly will be advising family and friends to avoid.

A traditionally good reputation has been destroyed with this extremely poor purchase.

[Marino.Manolo]

I respect the opinions of others, but I find this exaggerated, now lose confidence in a brand is too easy.
Unfortunately it is complex to make available all the technology we have today, but this is for all companies.
In this case you just have to wait for a new version of Android TV (Sony but Google).

Manolo

[Me1971]

I also respect your opinion Manolo but the features that are missing on a relatively expensive piece of equipment, most of which Sony advertised as being present inevitably causes disappointment and concern.

The features should be available prior to the TV's ever reaching Market and customers being left wondering, when, if ever, they might eventually become available.

The major features that remain absent seem extremely slowly to be addressed and implemented in the firmware updates to date.