Setting up Internet on Sony Smart TV

ozankoys · Post by **ozankoys** » Tue 28 Mar 2017 7:14 am

Can anyone help with this please I am using help pages from Sony but they do not seem to be displaying the same menus as our TV! I am trying to add BBC i-player but cannot find a plain URL to enter it.
I have an Internet Contents tab which contains Youtube, Opera TV & Netflix can see no facility to add anything else
The Applications tab just contains Photo Sharing Plus & Photo Frame mode
Thanks for any advice

Keithcaley · Post by **Keithcaley** » Tue 28 Mar 2017 9:01 am

Some 'Smart TV's' do not come with a built in Browser as standard. It is possible, on some models, to update the functions, or to add additional features, but it does vary from model to model.

I would email the Customer Service dept at Sony, stating the full model and serial number, tell them what you want to do, and ask them if it is possible, and how to do it... - or, if you bought the TV here, go along to the place where you bought it, and see whether they know.

RAZR63 · Post by **RAZR63** » Tue 28 Mar 2017 3:25 pm

Smart TV's eh.........

erol · Post by **erol** » Tue 28 Mar 2017 4:45 pm

The TV will only give you apps for the region it thinks you are in. If the TV does not think you are in the UK then it will not give you the BBC iPlayer app (or ITV or c4 etc).

Depending on what kind of Sony 'smart TV' it is, for there are different types, you may be able to fool it into thinking you are in the UK with the use of a third party service. However even with one of these it may not work.

Some examples of (paid) third party services that claim to work with (some) Sony TV's

https://support.unlocator.com/customer/ ... y-smart-tv

or

https://www.simpletelly.com/devices/sony/

but as a word or warning this is a post from someone in Australia who has a Sony android smart TV and is trying to get UK services on it and has failed - even using services like those above.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comm ... on_a_sony/

When Sony lost the VHS / Betamax war it decided that it needed to own 'content' in order to be able to push its formats, so it went and bought a whole load of movie studios and today Sony is a big content producer / owner as well as maker of equipment (unlike say Samsung who just makes equipment) and thus it is probably even more determined than most to try and keep 'region limits' on what content can be viewed by whom in what regions.

Keithcaley · Post by **Keithcaley** » Tue 28 Mar 2017 5:28 pm

Erol,

Thank you for the insight into some of the reasons why 'some' smart TV's at least are limited, regarding available options.

Interestingly (to me, at any rate!) I recently bought a new Smart TV - a cheap brand 'LECLA' which I quite like ('cos it's cheap, and seems to work well!) - and it has a complete Android interface/setup, which enables me to dispense with an external android box altogether in that location, and install whatever 'extras' I fancy.

As always, the 'Top Brands' seem to limit what you get for your money ( one would hope that they make up for it in terms of better build quality, performance, and after-sales service! - although I'm not convinced that they do...) - it seems that large screen TV's are now becoming just another 'commodity' like tins of beans, that you can pick up at Tesco and that the knowledge needed to produce them is no longer the province of the 'Innovators' who developed and introduced the technology.

I wonder just how long these 'Top Brands' can continue to thrive in a marketplace in which they no longer dominate.

Anyway, sorry to go 'off topic'

ozankoys · Post by **ozankoys** » Wed 29 Mar 2017 5:26 am

Sorry not to have replied earlier I had posted on the General Forum & did not realise it had been moved just thought I had pressed the wrong button & it had disappeared.
Thanks for the advice it would make sense that Sony options are more limited than other brands I will contact the supplier to see if they can help.