Sony RDR HXD970 lost all digital channels 19 July 2013

[sonrjl]

My Sony RDRHXD970 lost all of it's digital channels last night 19th July 2013.

I could still watch programs that I had recorded, but although the digital channel guide showed channel titles, when selected each channel showed no picture. I tried rescanning and a factory reset, but each time after the channel rescan it said that it had detected no new channels, but did appear to show the correct ones whilst scanning. However, after scanning, pressing enter to continue the process, the unit appears to freeze, no picture displays and it shows "Tuning" on the front display, which does not change. Powered off/on it now shows "Update" on the display and no picture.

Given that this seems to have happened to a large number of people at the same time, this must be a bug in the firmware concerning the date or the Digital program guide (EPG) perhaps.

Given that Sony's reputation has taken a battering since the security breach in 2011, I would hope they would try harder now concerning good after sales and customer service. Hopefully  someone from Sony is checking these messages and investigating the issue and hopefully making a new software update available or other fix to solve the problem.

[me61pw]

I have exactly the same issue as yourself and have sent Customer Services a mail too. It seems to have impacted quite a few people already and I only hope people don't throw their kit away thinking it's broken, when actually it needs SONY to issue a fix...

Let's hope SONY resolve it quickly....

[paander3756]

I have same problem. Last night (19th July) all channels lost. No amount of reseting makes any difference. 

Paul Anderson

[stevied]

So have I. Just happened early evening. I was just about to have it repaired when I read this.

[WhyCantIfindasuitableuser]

I have exactly the same problem, and am guessing that there are people country-wide who are also experiencing this who haven't found this website.

. I couldn't find the booklet so looked on internet and have spend a frustrating hour pressing every button on the remote control, then found this website. The other people's descriptions of the problem match mine exactly which is comforting to know I'm not alone, but still annoying!  I see that Sony telephone help is only available Monday to Friday (and no doubt will be useless after 15 minutes of hanging on listening to a message saying 'your call is important to us', so what are we to do?  There has to be a problem, so wouldn't it be good if Sony had put a message on this website to alert people and to say what they are planning to do about it? 

[moira-jean]

I have HXD995 and have same problem.no picture , EPG guide coming in and out in unusual format and timer not displaying picture

Have wasted hours reinstalling with no effect and have lost all recordings from 19th .

[stevied]

Don't try emailing them. It just says Unavailable due to maintenance!!!

[WhyCantIfindasuitableuser]

Just tried to email Sony, but can't get to send the message as I get the error message below.   I haven't put a product code in (mainly because there isn't a choice of DVD player) and quite which value must be between 8 and 8 - I have no idea!

Please complete all required information before clicking send
* The value must be between8 and 8 .
* The product code is incorrect

Perhaps someone from Sony would be good enough to come onto this forum and give us some answers!  I notice that each time I come to this thread, more and more people are looking.

[paander3756]

I've emailed Sony UK support with same problem. I didn't get any maintenance message, so hopefully the message has got through. 

I've also posted a Twitter tweet to @sonyuk and #sony - might get wider attention.

Paul

[SonyHXD995owner]

Exactly the same thing happened to my Sony HDX995 HDD/DVD recorder yesterday (19 July 2013). I went to record the Ashes highlights at 7pm only to find the channel settings had disapperaed, and the EPG showed channels in the first column but no programme details in the rows. The machine had been working fine less than 24 hours earlier.

I did some research with the help of a Google search, and that pointed me to a firmware upgrade made available by Sony to address precisely this issue - so it must be a common problem. Here's the link:

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/RDR-HXD995/downloads/FW_DVDR_124

I went to fapply this fix this morning, but now  the machine won't even power up! Seems like I have a pretty fundamental problem.

Grateful for any advice from the Sony Community!