Hi, I've had this TV since June 2016, and it has never been right other than for maybe the first couple of months.
I have contacted Sony support on several occasions in the past, but it has never led to a permanent fix. I have factory reset the TV multiple times, upgraded the firmware (currently on PKG5.435.0184EUB), reset the internet connection (it's wired directly into the router), run the built-in Problem diagnosis (no problems found).
The issue is that it's too often too painfully slow and frustrating to use. Some days are better than others, but even on the best days it's not a pleasant experience. On the worst days, even just flicking through the home screen icons/apps is embarrassingly sluggish. Opening apps can take 30s or more. Once inside them then navigating their options can be very slow and unresponsive. Even changing the volume during playback causes stutter and occasionally can freeze the screen. Watching digital TV is probably the worst of all - I just timed these - from the home screen after clicking the TV button on the remote, it took 40s to start hearing sound, and another 15-20s before a picture appeared! The guide took 20s from clicking the button to fully displaying. And from there is took about 4s to return back to the picture. After clicking the Home button, it took 18s for the home screen to appear. Granted today is about the worst it gets, but this is pretty typical, and I did a fresh restart less than an hour ago.
It isn't isolated to one app in particular, and even the native home screen or menus can be unresponsive/sluggish. Videos on Amazon Prime stutter (not buffer) all the way through.
I have a Sony sound bar/sub connected to it via HDMI/ARC, but no other devices nor pen/portable flash drives etc connected to it, nothing out of the ordinary installed on it, and an 80/20mbps stable internet connection (via Ethernet).
To clarify - regardless of firmware version the TV performance has always been the same. It's marginally better after a factory reset, but is back to its old ways within a few weeks if not sooner. In fact, I have never been pleasantly surprised after a factory reset.
Something must be inherently wrong with it. Even friends/family who come round notice how slow it is and are convinced there's something wrong with it.
Oh, and the touchpad remote doesn't work. Stopped working after about 3 months, when it started emitting a high pitched squeal, so I took the batteries out thinking it might explode. I have tried it again since and it's dead. One of the support advisors told me to do some button combination on it to fix it, but that didn't do anything.
It's still under warranty (6 year extended at time of purchase) and really want this sorting now. Problem is the Sony support line is only open Mon-Fri 8am-6pm which is when I'm at work. Quite reluctant to take a day off only for it to not result in a permanent fix, again. Would an engineer visit be out of the question? Any help or advice would be appreciated.
