Sony BDP-S370 Sound Drop outs

[Anonymous]

Oh dear. Just had the same sound drop outs on the Sony S570. Only on Blu ray disks though. I bought the player from John lewis' and took it back to swap. Same problem on the new one. I rang Sony and they wanted me to take the player to an authorised technician. Sony said they had not heard of the problem before (rang Friday 2nd July 2010). I have not taking it to the technician.

Very annoying problem

System: Sony KDL40 EX503, Sony S570 and QED P-HDMI

 

[FunkyMonkey]

No such problem on my 470, but a couple of other niggly technical issues that are nto present or have been fixed on the PS3. POOR POOR show by Sony. Getting slightly better panning shots was not worth giving up the PS3 for when the multimedia capabilities are SO poor. Step backwards and no mistaking.

If you want a multi machine, spend a bit more and get a PS3.

 

[Dupes]

So some more news - the 'fix' will work with certain TV's as it was designed for certain models as Sony only thought it was certain ones effected - even though they were told different.

Frankly I am disgusted with them. I asked for a refund, and I will be picking this up with the CTSO for Portsmouth (a friend of mine) on my legal standings and taking Sony to small claims for a refund if worthwhile though I dont hold out much hope. Given how agrieved I am with them their refusal to discuss or compensate is disgusting. I will try through the retailer who will only get the money back from Sony anyway! Hope more press picks this up as the player is still getting good reviews! Its like saying a sports car that stalls every 10 miles is still fantastic.Rediculous.

Simply put their new BDP are not fit for purpose under the SOGA. Time to get legal, maybe a class action for refunds or compensation? Anyone got experience?

Anyway, I have put tags so anyone searching the internet for info about this BDP will at least know the facts and buy elsewhere so they are saved this disappointment.

Below is latest Sony reply - after they closed my complaint again

seems a fix for all is a long way away

I am sorry to read out automatic system has closed your previous case and this has caused further frustration.

Sony has made every effort to resolve the Audio drop out problem with the BDPP-S37* players, however initial complaints were about the W4500 series TV's, the latest and rushed software was tested with this model and while being implemented, we became aware other models were also being effected, to ensure all products do not suffer any further problems this is now under investigation with all the different TV's released with HDMI, as you can imagine this is a lot of televisions and will cause further delays to the next update, however we would like to be 100% on the next update to ensure this is resolved.

At this time I am not prepared to offer refunds, the technical department are working as quickly as possible to resolve this issue, they are even testing an alternative solution with the products settings, until the software fix is completed, please keep an eye on the What Hi-Fi forum for any official news from John Cobb.

I am sorry if this reply causes any further frustration and we apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Yours sincerely

Will Wilson

 

[Anonymous]

I have a sony 32ex403 and bdp 370, I originally would get between 1 - 3 sound drop outs per movie since installing the new update i've watched a few films and have yet to experience a single drop out. so fingers crossed the new update has cured the problem for my model of tv.

 

[Anonymous]

Scratch what I said earlier, just finished watching fight club on blu-ray and had 2 sound drop outs.

 

[Anonymous]

I suffered from sound dropouts as well with my 40EX503 and after the update they seem to have stopped BUT now I get the occasional picture loss

With DVDs the screen goes black and with Blu-rays black with 3 or 4 vertical "streaks" but the sound's still there so that's something.

There wasn't a problem when it was connected to my G20 via a 5300 amp, (10 hours of LOTR is a pretty good test,) so I might try putting another device between the TV and the 370 like a HDMI switch to see what happens.

 

[Anonymous]

I've swapped my tv now, a sony 32w5500 went on sale at work for £399 so with my staff discount i got it for £360. I thought this was a bargain for a 100hz tv with motionflow, it's a bit uglier than the 32ex403 but performance seems far better. anyway had zero problems so far with sound drop outs on new set.

 

[Anonymous]

I've just watched shutter island on blu ray and had no issues whatsoever. Could it be something with the discs as well as T2 did not play well due to the picture hangs?

 

[Anonymous]

Well I am using my 370 with a Pioneer 508XDA Plasma screen via HDMI of course. I have noticed that when playing BD's the dropouts have reduced however playing DIVX via the USB port I get dropouts often, maybe 4 or 5 times during a 45 minute episode, much more common than via Sherlock Holmes BD where it occurred once.

Last time Sony burnt me was in 1994 when I purchased a new video camera, 5 CD CDPlayer, Surround amp all Sony brand and cost me a small fortune, from memory about $3200 all up. I was told Sony were good. Within months the camera died which took 3 months to fix as it was the CCD that died then just after the 12 month warranty ran out the front panel of the surround amp started to show the characters flicking on and off, obviously dry joints because pressing the screen changed what was on and off on the display. I was totally disgusted and for 5 years never bought another Sony product until 1999 when I got a $2500 Wega TV made in Japan, I was again told it was the best. Yes it still works but turns itself on and off randomly and has done so for about 7 years now. I have a friend with a 2yr old X series Sony LCD which cost him around $4k which has died twice on him as well.

So because of the bad quality Sony seems to be producing I avoided them until I started to read about the great 370 BD player and even though my head was saying "This is Sony don't do it" I just did it anyway thinking that Sony can't be consistently bad for 16 yrs since my first major purchase.

So anyway the rest is old news and I am not totally unhappy with the 370, it works, it is fast, generally plays everything at great quality with great sound output and the dropouts are a minor annoyance. I am just hoping Sony fix it properly. I don't understand how Sony can screw it up to be honest, BR has been out for a few years already!

Anyway come on Sony please supply a fix, a proper fix across the board, I find it hard to believe it is dependent on the TV it is plugged into, you are starting to sound like Apple "Yeah the iPhone 4 signal dropout is because of a software algorithm".

Will I buy Sony again? well maybe however it is never on top of my list and I always search for a better alternative at the same or lesser price. I am afraid my BIG SPENDING Sony days are far behind me.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

Firstly let me apologise for the continuing problems suffered by some of you when using Certain Sony products.

We here at Sony take these issues very seriously indeed and are working on a permanent solution to correct this issue for all product combinations.

A new version of software is currently under development and is estimated to be available by mid August.

Until then, if a user switches "HDMI Deep Colour Output" to "Off", (Home > Screen settings > HDMI Deep Colour Output > Off) on the player, the issue of sound drop outs will not occur.

I will update this forum with further information as soon as I am able.

Regards

John Cobb

 

[roger06]

Hi John

I hope the mid-August release will fix the problem whereby the DLNA client doesn't seem to work...

Your customer services now tell me my inquiry has been escalated.

 

[audiowizard]

So would it be safe to assume that if I buy a Sony BDP-S370, I will not experience any sound drop outs if I connect the player to my amp, then tv?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks John,

Appreciate the update.

 

[Clare Newsome]

audiowizard:So would it be safe to assume that if I buy a Sony BDP-S370, I will not experience any sound drop outs if I connect the player to my amp, then tv?

Yes - it's a direct-connection-to-TV issue, and only then with certain Sony TVs, suggesting some sort of software 'handshaking' issue between the two.

 

[audiowizard]

Thanks Clare, now need to wait to see if it drops to £99.99 again.

 

[parish_chap]

John Cobb:Until then, if a user switches "HDMI Deep Colour Output" to "Off", (Home > Screen settings > HDMI Deep Colour Output > Off) on the player, the issue of sound drop outs will not occur.

Thanks John, but my KDL-40EX603 doesn't have an HDMI Deep Colour Output setting, at least not that I can see, but I do have the sound drop-out problem. It does have Live Colour, is that the same thing?

 

[hammill]

parish_chap:

John Cobb:Until then, if a user switches "HDMI Deep Colour Output" to "Off", (Home > Screen settings > HDMI Deep Colour Output > Off) on the player, the issue of sound drop outs will not occur.

Thanks John, but my KDL-40EX603 doesn't have an HDMI Deep Colour Output setting, at least not that I can see, but I do have the sound drop-out problem. It does have Live Colour, is that the same thing?

Well your TV would not have an "HDMI Deep Colour Output " setting. The instructions refer to "the player".

 

[parish_chap]

hammill:Well your TV would not have an "HDMI Deep Colour Output " setting. The instructions refer to "the player".

D'oh!!

My brain is obviously getting too old for speed-reading

Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Clare Newsome:
audiowizard:So would it be safe to assume that if I buy a Sony BDP-S370, I will not experience any sound drop outs if I connect the player to my amp, then tv?

Yes - it's a direct-connection-to-TV issue, and only then with certain Sony TVs, suggesting some sort of software 'handshaking' issue between the two.

Unfortunatly not. I've connected it via an Onkyo TX-SR308 to a KDL-40EX500, and I also have the problems! Though it's less after the updated firmware, but sometimes it's still there. I have to say that with the 2 BR's i've checked, I didn't have any problems. Only with playing avi/mkv files.

It could be a different problem I'm having here, but the dropouts occur random, not in specific places of a file. As I already said before, I sometimes have 'freezes' as well. So I think this is the same problem? Correct me if I'm wrong though....

 

[Anonymous]

Actually it is not to do with Sony TV's.

As I stated before mine is connected to a Pioneer 508XDA and I get the same issues so if you have another brand of TV there is no guarantee you wont have any sound issues.

 

[Anonymous]

I have also been having the same sound-drop problem with my Samsung LE40C530 TV for both DVD and CD playback even with PCM-audio enabled. I am about to try upgrading the firmware on both the BDP-S370 player and TV to ensure they are the latest to see if this fixes the problem. The picture has also been dropping (but less frequently) so this is even more of a concern for me, as I will be putting the sound through my hi-fi soon anyway.

Anyone know if the HDMI cable that I am using could possibly also be a reason for either or both issues? I am using a thatcable HDMI cable.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Could you borrow a cable from a friend to test it? Sounds like that could be more than a firmware issue...

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Clare,

Appears to be a cable issue. Replaced it with my Sky HD freebie cable and no issue. Trying to return my thatcable right now and purchased a Vivanco cable instead already.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Dupes]

Hi Andy/anyone

I was wondering if there was any news from Sony on this fix - maybe they have an idea of timescales now - how long this will take? All seems to have gone very quiet from them, so I hope they are not just seeing if this will go away - they have now had long enough to completely rewrite the firmware IMO given they should have had a dedicated 24/7 team on this.

The suggested temporary work around does seem to prevent sound issues, at the expense of the colour dynamics. Frankly the lack of updates from Sony is as expected now. I want a full refund from them so I can go elsewhere, but they are currently unwilling. Taking them to small claims over products mis-description/unfit for purpose seems a big bother but perhaps the only option now to get my money back - they have had more than long enough.

Releasing a product to play HD pictures and sound that does not work properly with their own TV's....really. Sony's poor response with still no fix, means one customer who will always look elsewhere first now and I can't be the only one.

Anyway if anyone has heard anything would be nice to know. Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Dupes,

If you look a few a dozen or so posts back Sony have stated they should have a fix ready by Mid August. This explains why most have gone quiet, just waiting for a fix and hopefully this time it works.