Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Last night, my wife and I did a firmware upgrade on our Sony KDF-60XS955, RP
LCD HDTV.

Sears had sent out a tech a couple of weeks ago, after I had called them to
find out if there was a firmware upgrade for the set or any other
information about making the sets more compatible with Scientific Atlanta
CableCards. (Time Warner had told me that Sony, TW and SA were working on
this.) Sears sent the tech but he started the visit by asking me, "What's a
CableCard?" So, he wasn't much help, obviously, but he did call in to his
office, gave someone there my set's model and serial numbers, and found out
that Sony did have a firmware upgrade for the set, version 1.03.

The plan was for Sony to mail me the upgrade on a Sony memory stick, then
Sears would come back out to "install" it. I asked the tech what, exactly,
he was going to do that I could not do, since he didn't seem to know as much
as I did about the set. He said, "Well, I would like to watch you do it."
OK. Sears called us a week later to say that the firmware delivery was
being delayed and they would call later to arrange to send out another tech,
after they got word that we had received the memory stick.

Anyway, we got the memory stick last week, Sears did not call and we could
not see what they were going to do anyway. The previous tech had told me
that their book said that the "instructions" for the upgrade would appear on
the TV screen after the memory stick was inserted.

Well, what appeared on the TV screen was not "instructions", just
information as to what was going on while it happened, automatically.
Details appeared, apparently of the software version now installed on one
side of the screen, the upgrade on the other side and a progression bar,
showing the percentage completed as the process continued, through
"preparation", copying over the upgrade, and then installing it. It's
pretty much like installing a new program on your computer.

It just starts automatically when the memory stick is inserted and you
stand there and watch it happen. There is nothing else to do. A little
flashing sign at the bottom of the screens warns you not to remove the
memory stick while the upgrade is happening. Finally, it announces that the
upgrade is installed and that the system will reboot. It does, taking just
enough time with a blank screen to get you worried, then another sign tells
you to remove the memory stick. You do and the TV picture returns, after
another disconcerting pause.

I have not yet found any differences between the way the TV worked before
and the way it works now. We'll see, I guess, if I still get those
"CableCard Error 161-6" messages every couple of weeks and/or the occasional
CableCard dropouts. Both most likely really attributable to Time-Warner, I
suspect. I notice that I still lose analog sound to my receiver when I use
"Favorites" to go from a digital audio to an analog audio channel and have
to "Jump" to get it back. That's probably still way below Sony's horizon.
It would be interesting to know exactly what was upgraded but I don't have
any way of getting that information.

mack
austin