Sony TV had promised its users an update to Dolby Vision as late as January 2017. So when, on 8th January 2018, almost a year later, Sony did launched Dolby Vision HDR for its 4K OLED and LCD TV, users were naturally thrilled. However, ever since the update, the users have found the firmware incompatible with external devices.
The update does not allow Dolby Vision HDR to be played over HDMI or USB. This has left users with Dolby-vision-capable source devices like Oppo’s 4K Blu-ray players and the Apple TV 4K unable to connect to the Sony TV, thus depriving them of the pleasure of watching TV in HD. The TV’s intrinsic apps, such as Netflix, seem to support the update without any problem.
The outrage over the latest problem has left Sony at a loss, and they have been compelled to remove all mentions of the update from their latest patch notes. Rumours, as yet completely unsubstantiated, have started making rounds that Sony might retract the update altogether.
While it may be said that the TV’s are themselves incapable of playing Dolby-vision over HDMI and USB, user feedback thwarts such suggestions since Sony’s X940E, X930E, A1E and Z9D TVs are equipped with the capabilities for doing the same. Another reason that the update is not working over HDMI and USB may be that Sony has decided to withhold the HDMI part of the update till it has successfully implemented the Dolby-sourced Dolby Vision HDMI ‘bug fix’. The most likely reason for the mishap, says John Archer, a Forbes contributor, is, “that Sony’s TV update has implemented a new ‘profile’ version of Dolby Vision that may be incompatible with the current, older Dolby Vision profiles of various external sources.” Sony has yet to comment on the development.
