topic Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!! in Android TV

YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

Publiclyavailable — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 15:11:26 GMT

I spoke with Sony Support today. Two items of Good News.

1. A fix for the disasterous Youview set crippler

2. A help guide for your TV so you can see how to use it (ie, not just the silly set up pamphlet).

OK here goes - as advised straight from the SONY horse's mouth - it worked for me!

1. To regain my satelite and terrestrial channels without Youview and with the EPGs for both intact, I was told to reset the factory setting via Home/Settings / "Storage and Reset". I just reset the whole box. It went through a switch off and restart/reboot sequence then I was able to re-setup the digital terrestrial and satellite channels as originally provided.

WARNING. Later in the process the deadly YouView appears and asks if you want to select it. There is no option but to click NEXT (clicking BACK just keeps you in the setup loop). After clicking next just keep selecting the options that say no no no. It is quite persistent in its belief that you probably want it but just keep telling it to go away and it will eventualy stop asking. Result!!

The only minor issue is that Youview remains as an icon, in the home area, ready to taunt you into installing it again sometime. KEEP WELL CLEAR! 🙂

2. The Help Manual

This is unhelpfully called a help manual when what it really is is a guide to what the set does and how to use it. Just go here and insert you set's model number then select the HTML Help Guide for your set. It tells you how to use the darn thing! The "User Guide" in pdf format is just the stupind start up pamphlet. Result again!!

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/hub/prd-tvhc-tv

Happy viewing everyone

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:24:59 GMT

Hi there

Thanks for the post, but im not too sure i understsnd your issue. If you wanted the original EPG including satellite channels, it is simpler to disable YouView in the settings and retune the satellite channels vack in, without a full factory reset.

Either way, both works and i am glad that you are happy - thanks for taking the time to post, also about the manuals too.

Cheers

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

Publiclyavailable — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 08:36:11 GMT

Yes, all good.

The point you make about simply disabling Youview in the settings and retuning the satellite channels didn't work - three times! The Youview update removed both EPGs leaving only the single channel that I was tuned to actually listed. It also sabotaged the "previous channel" toggle/button. The Full Reset overcame all of these issues. My set is now as fresh as the day it was born once more and Youview free.

Anyway, lets hope this helps all the others out there.

best.

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

royabrown — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 17:55:26 GMT

@Publiclyavailable wrote:
Yes, all good.

The point you make about simply disabling Youview in the settings and retuning the satellite channels didn't work - three times! The Youview update removed both EPGs leaving only the single channel that I was tuned to actually listed. It also sabotaged the "previous channel" toggle/button. The Full Reset overcame all of these issues. My set is now as fresh as the day it was born once more and Youview free.

Anyway, lets hope this helps all the others out there.

best.

PA

I think you just hit one of the many bugs, permanent and transient, that still lurk in the Android software, and your Full Reset cleared the transient one you had.

While I can't speak directly for the satellite software, other users have reported that disabling YouView and retuning the satellite services is enough to restore pre-YouView sanity.

And I can certainly directly confirm that on disabling YouView, I found the Freeview Channel Guide still present and perfectly intact, and it has remained so on several trips out of and back to YouView.

So I would suggest that users disable YouView, via Home/Settings/Channel settings/YouView settings, and then check if their Freeview Guide is intact, and the Previous Channel toggle works; and if so, all they then need should be the satellite retune.

And only if the above fails should the Full Reset be employed. (He says with some feeling, having a page of A4 with all the picture, sound, and what-have-you tweaks that would need to be reinput after such a Full Reset).

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

helios44 — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 20:21:10 GMT

The question is though -. why are the Satellite channels not available when YV is enabled ?

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

Penpal1999 — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 12:56:37 GMT

Thanks for this information. I will try to disable YouView tonight, and if that does not work, I will do a factory reset.

I cannot explain how angered I am with Sony’s implementation of YouView. So far the problems it has caused are:

Disable Satellite Ports and Channels (Sony, did you think no-one who purchased your product was using them?)
Disable recording to USB drive (Seriously Sony? Why on earth would this be a good thing to do?)
Ruin the functionality of the TV remote controls being able to control a TV box (like SKY or Virgin), because YouView hard locks the ‘TV’ and ‘TV Guide’ buttons so that they throw you back into YouView.
Limit the voice control functionality of the voice / touch remote. Before YouView update, I was able to say something like “switch to Virgin 113” and “Switch to Sky Sports 1 on Virgin” (I have renamed HDMI-1 as Virgin and that seemed to work fine). The TV would bring up tiles and I was able to select the tile and it would use the IR blaster to turn the Virgin box over to the channel (as the old ERP know I was using a Virgin box). Now all it seems to do is try and find it as a program on YouView.

I know this sound very petty, but I will hold off buying a PS4 until after Christmas now. Just so angry with Sony.

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

royabrown — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 22:54:30 GMT

Penpal1999 were you able to record to USB prior to this update? I don't think you could - so how did YouView stop you using a feature that isn't even implemented until Dec 24th?

Regarding the rest of it - this was inconvenient to be sure. But Home/Settings/Channel settings/YouView settings/Disable will get you back where you were before, and your Freeview Channel settings will be intact still, which is more than can be said for the satellite settings, at least, which will need a retune.

But the introduction of YouView, though very clearly botched, is reversible inside 15 minutes or less, and things can go back exactly as they were.

Which may not, admittedly, sound like the most positive of claims, but is at least better than the introduction of YouView being even in the smallest way irreversible.

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

Visionman — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 23:08:44 GMT

"The question is though -. why are the Satellite channels not available when YV is enabled ?"

There are two possible answers, the first of which is definitive - YouView is a freeview only provider and platform, and don't have a licence to work with satellite services. The second isn't confirmed but is probable - as the YouView platform is installed the satellite platform and EPG is deleted, due to core processing power and memory restrictions. This TV is powerful enough to host two dual platforms (which is impressive in itself) which are the Android base OS and one of Satellite or YouView, but not both. And it states that in the blurb.

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

Hargreaves87p — Fri, 06 May 2016 19:48:55 GMT

I like YouView but I also use satellite reception, as the signal is better. However when I had enabled YouView and tested it, I disabled it and then immediately tuned the satellite channels. (Free ones). Miraculously, YouView still worked when looking at channel information, this included all the YouView listings. However when looking at the guide (by button) only the Freeview guide appeared. Recording and catch up both worked, including ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. Sattelite also worked.

The best of both worlds!

It would have been but after two days the TV reset itself and the YouView disappeared and so did catch up for ITV C4 and C5..

As Satellite, Freeview, YouView, YouView Catchup and Recording all worked together, for a short time, there must be a software adjustment that can be made to enable this permanently.

Come on Sony engineers, it can be done, I challenge you!

Hargreaves

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

longjohn8 — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 11:14:13 GMT

This is not a fix to the YouView crippling - its just a YouView uninstall/disable.

What we really want is to be able to use YouView and its full catchup facilities to gether with the inbuilt USB recording and Satellite tuner!

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

longjohn8 — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 11:19:29 GMT

Yes! the USB recording facility most certainly did work prior to enabling YouView. YouView not only disables furture recording but also disable access to previous recordings made via USB. This is ridiculous.

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

royabrown — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 14:17:10 GMT

@longjohn8 wrote:
This is not a fix to the YouView crippling - its just a YouView uninstall/disable.

What we really want is to be able to use YouView and its full catchup facilities to gether with the inbuilt USB recording and Satellite tuner!

The difference escapes me - disable YouView and it is gone, apart from an icon should you want it back.

Understandably, you would like YouView to be able to record - I don't think you will ever get the Freeview EPG, which can record, working alongside the YouView one which still can't, even after all this time,

That YouView will not coexist with satellite is an ongoing blot on both YouView and Sony. Personally, though, I think that the satellite not being Freesat is a blot on Sony also.

My unvarying advice about the catch-up apps outside of YouView is to get a £15 NowTV box - you don't have to subscribe - and use that, plugged into the TV, for the missing 2, or for all 4. No biggie....

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

longjohn8 — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 14:33:25 GMT

Agree entirely about the blot on Sony & YouView & no Freesat. It does seems stupid to have to add another box to get full catchup - where are the Android apps for ITV Player and 4 catchups? While it's nice to have the catchups within the guide, utilising separate apps is no big deal. But a separate box?? Makes a nonsense for a so called 'smart' or in this case stupid TV.

There is nothing else that these Sony Android TVs do better than the equvalent smart Panys, Samsungs etc - Indeed all seem to be more stable than Sony Android.

Sony has played its last card with me! So my unvarying advice is to avoid Sony in future.

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

bovaboy — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:14:01 GMT

Hi,

I had a similar problem but fixed it with a different approach. I like the Youview catchup service etc and thinks it works well. I would say the android OS is a little sketchy compared to some of the other providers but it can also do a lot more than the other manufacturers operating systems.

This solution only works if you have a server at home which you use for other things (or a computer you're happy to leave on). I used to use Mediaportal for all of my home recording so had a server with this already installed, I simply switched this back on and instaled a sattelite card (which I already had) and a HDhomerun tuner I used to use. I had to install the Kodi TV service package on the server also.

Installed Kodi on the Android TV with the Mediaportal add-on enabled, a little bit of fiddling with the settings to make it stable and now I have access to sattelite and PVR all on the Sony TV. As an added advantage Kodi also picked up all of my old movies, pictures and music on the server if I ever want to watch them too.

I know this won't help everyone but it has worked out as a solution for me.

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

bovaboy — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:16:46 GMT

I'd just like to point out that this is using KODI for its original purpose and NOT for streaming pirated content.

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 21:58:30 GMT

Hi @bovaboy

Thanks for posting this. It might give some people another idea or so.

Cheers

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

royabrown — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 11:19:02 GMT

Hi bovaboy

So you keep the TV in YouView mode, and use the server via Kodi to provide the two 'missing' YouView functions, the ability to record, and the ability to coexist with satellite?

Cunning.

Anither method some people employ is to keep the TV in Freeview/Recording/Satellite mode, and use a YouView box for the YouView features, which are richer in most ways, albeit the same or poorer in some ways, than those on YouView TV.

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

bovaboy — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 23:00:02 GMT

Hi,

Yes, thats the general idea and yes using a seperate youview box is another way around the problem. The use of a Mediaportal server has extra benefits such as being able to watch the recorded channels etc. in more than one room, the storage for recordings is as big as you want it to be (I have 3TB for recordings) selecting recordings and downloading them when out of the house (I can access my recorded TV when in hotels for example) among other things.

This solution does require some extra hardware costs and some technical know how to get it to work and I would warn that while mediaportal is good it does chew up quite a lot of time to get it to work the way you want (though just to get it to record and connect to the TV isn't too bad). Also watching live TV through this system is slow when changing channels (Stream has to start from card to hard disk, then streamed from hard disk to TV over ethernet, this will be worse over wireless).

Also having a server running 24/7 does of course use electricity,

My wife has never got on with Mediaportal, it always seems to break when she tries to use it.

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

royabrown — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 11:32:36 GMT

@bovaboy wrote:
Hi,

<snip good stuff>

My wife has never got on with Mediaportal, it always seems to break when she tries to use it.

Our Sony Android YouView TV got downgraded to another room and urgently and expensively replaced by a Samsung in the lounge three days before Xmas 2015, when I returned from a shopping trip to find everyone crowded round a 32in set in another room, as no-one but me could make the Sony behave 😞

I have always thought the spouse test important: can i safely leave this device with someone who just wants to watch it, and takes no pleasure in convoluted setup regimes and debugging the damn thing?

Nonetheless, she is a better beta tester than me, as i have found several times; i learn to tiptoe round the shortcomings, which is not what you want in beta testing, while she confronts them head on, and all I have to do is to watch and take notes 🙂

Come 2017, the Sony TV is better than it was back then - but not as good as it ought to have been by now.

Re: YOUVIEW DE-CRIPPLER. A FIX YAY!!

Hermanthemighty — Sun, 07 Jan 2018 20:41:58 GMT

I tried to disable Youview in the settings menu repeatedly but it had no effect whatsoever. Still no satellite tuner access.

I will try a soft rest, evenb though it means a lot of hassle.

It seems to me an absurdity that a full blown technical part of the TV, the satellite tunre, is rendered pointless by Youview on this TV.