KD55XH8196BU has lost HD channels after software update - HELP!

[expialidocious1]

Hi, this morning after switching the set on it notified me that an update was available, I didn't have the time so I brushed it off until later.

This evening turned the set on and there was no audio coming from the TV through the blu-ray surround sound system. tried a disc and it worked fine so it had to be the TV.

Went into system settings and downloaded the software update, restarted the tv and the sound was working fine again.

Problem is we have lost BBC4 HD, BBC News HD and Quest HD from the youview guide!

Tried scanning for channels and doing a retune but the lost channels were not detected.

Anyone know why the update would remove channels and can we either roll back the update or somehow get the channels back to how they were only a few hours ago?

thank you

[expialidocious1]

***UPDATE***

So this morning I performed a full channel scan and it picked up the missing services! BBC News HD, BBC Four HD and Quest HD etc and I thought I was back in business, HOWEVER when you select the channel to watch it says the signal is weak or lost and it's a black screen. BBC1 & 2 HD, ITV1 HD , C4 HD and 5HD all still work fine.

Why has the software update killed my seven week old TV?

[royabrown2]

@expialidocious1 

At a guess, you have lost the channels on the COM7 HD multiplex.

Look at this page:-

https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/platform-management/channel-listings

to see what they are. Click/tap the heading Mux to sort by Mux, and see them grouped.

Then use this page:-

https://www.freeview.co.uk/check-channels-home

to see what channels you should get. Select the Detailed View for the most comprehensive presentation.

See if COM 7 HD is listed against your transmitter or not. If you are on a Freeview Lite transmitter, you won’t get it.

Also look at:-

https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/platform-management/planned-engineering-works

to see if your transmitter is currently undergoing engineering works.

Come back and post details of which transmitter or transmitters you might be using, and we can make further suggestions; maybe aerial change, maybe realignment, maybe just wait until any works are over.

[expialidocious1]

Thanks for your reply royabrown2,

Firstly the television has Youview not Freeview but I assume it all works on the same hardware

Yes you are correct the lost channels are indeed those on the COM7 HD multiplex

Checking the Freeview page for channel availability at my address does not include the lost channels, but I have no idea if doing a search yesterday when we had them working fine would have returned a different result.

Our nearest transmitter appears to Crockerton and from another site we are int he middle of a good quality coverage area for this mast and there seem to be no live issues or planned works. It doesnt seem to carry COM7 HD but the next nearest Mendip does, could the foggy weather have anything to do with this?

We are in a rented bungalow and the aerial can't really be changed. I just don't understand why everything was working perfectly yesterday morning but by the evening we have lost some HD channels 🤔

[royabrown2]

@expialidocious1 

Crockerton is a fill-in for about 1100 homes, in a small area which Mendip may not cover well.

And yes, for reception purposes, Freeview and YouView are equivalent.

Bad weather may affect your signal:-

https://www.freeview.co.uk/help/bad-weather-affecting-tv-signal

Assuming the aerial on your rented bungalow is outside, get a compass bearing on Crockerton and on Mendip, and see which the aerial is pointing at.

If you are ESE of the Crockerton transmitter, then the Mendip signal needs to get ‘through’ it to reach you; bad weather may suppress it a bit, making the TV tune to Crockerton in preference.

Maybe it will come back in a day or so?

Either way, I think the Sony update is exonerated 😛

[expialidocious1]

Thank you again for your replies, I'm not sure why you think the firmware update isn't somehow related, first the Youview sound output to the amp ceased to function after I dismissed the update prompt, then the first time the tv came back on after the update the channels were gone.

the aerial is pointing pretty much due West towards Mendip. Crockerton is South of us.

looks like I won't be enjoying 'Chasing Classic Cars' on Quest HD tomorrow ☹️

[royabrown2]

@expialidocious1 

Well, as you dismissed the update prompt, it didn’t update then, so you would have to ascribe the ‘no sound’ problem to the prompt alone.

As for the second problem (i) that’s a predictable reception issue, given where you are sited; and (ii) there are no other reports of this update causing a lost multiplex.

Having said that, Crockerton must be going some to take over your tuning from a transmitter at 90 degrees to your aerial, where the rejection should be at its greatest, so I am optimistic that a further retune may bring this mux back for you.

If it was your aerial, I’d be talking about its possible replacement with one optimised to fetch in Mendip and reject Crockerton; even if your landlord chose an aerial optimised for Mendip in the past, which from the direction it is pointed in looks likely, there have been changes to the aerial groupings in the last few years which may mean it is no longer optimum.

Maybe a word with your landlord if COM7 remains unreachable in, say, the next week or so?

[Tonycv51]

It's a long shot but make sure the Tv aerial lead is separated from any HDMI leads into the Tv by a good few inches.  HDMI interference can stop weaker signals from working

[expialidocious1]

Thank you for all your replies but I eventually managed to figure out what was wrong.

In our loft I found a 4 way aerial splitter which takes the signal from the roof aerial and sends it to each of the wall sockets in different rooms. I originally thought that it was simply a splitter but it turns out it was a signal booster too. I hoisted our old 32inch lcd set into the loft and plugged it directly into the aerial cable coming from the antenna and lo and behold the missing HD channels were present and working perfectly so I knew it was a problem after that stage of the setup. The light on the box was on but obviously after 8 years of constant use it was fried inside.

The Philex 4-way splitter/booster only produced about 10-12db of signal gain so I bought a Futuristix one on ebay which has 30db. Couple of days later it arrived, plugged it in scanned the channels and everything that was lost is back and working perfectly.

Funny coincidenece that it failed at the exact time we did the firmware update but thats all in the past now.

really enjoying this fantastic TV and can highly recommend it!

[royabrown2]

@expialidocious1 

See, I knew it wasn’t the update 😛

So your kind landlord did indeed provide an aerial DXing to Mendip; but when the masthead amp failed, all the TVs feeding off it could only find Crockerton, which you could probably have got from a piece of wet string.

Glad it’s fixed now!