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My in-laws have a fairly high end Sony smart TV (Android TV based) from only 3 or 4 years ago and it's the worst POS I've ever encountered. It was always a bit

My in-laws have a fairly high end Sony smart TV (Android TV based) from only 3 or 4 years ago and it's the worst POS I've ever encountered. It was always a bit sluggish (flipping through menus, changing channels, etc) but recently it has slowed to an absolute crawl. Any type of App or even bringing up the menu takes like 2 minutes, and turning on the TV takes like 5 minutes. Once it's booted up, at least flipping through the OTA channels "only" takes about 2 or 3 seconds, so it's somewhat usable. My initial instinct is that some sort of hardware is failing (storage, maybe?) but it was quite slow to begin with, so it's plausible a software update is the cause.

zimpenfish 3y ago
Adding an anecdata to the pile - my parents have a Sony Smart TV and yeah, it's a POS. Trying to watch some YouTube videos at Christmas and it would frequently crash with "This page requires too much memory" errors.
RugnirViking 3y ago
I have this problem. I almost cannot use it at all apart from chromecast streaming. Any ideas what could fix it?
- arcanemachiner 3y ago
  Just speculating, but do a factory reset and never ever connect it to the Internet. Maybe try older firmware if it's available.
InfamousRece 3y ago
When I was a kid my grandparents had an old style TV with vacuum tubes. It also required several minutes to “heat up” before the picture appeared. I guess we’ve come a full circle.
- userbinator 3y ago
  Minutes? More like seconds, tens of seconds at most; you can watch videos of them starting up on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jImib9Keio8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jImib9Keio8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxUQw5vCDZs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxUQw5vCDZs
Grazester 3y ago
If it's any consolation my in-laws have a similarly sluggish LG WebOS TV. When I go over there I hate having to navigate the menu. At home I have an non smart LG with an Nvidia Shield.
- jasomill 3y ago
  At least on my LG TV, basic non-"smart" controls are available directly via both RS-232[1] and IR remote without recourse to menus. The IR remote, in particular, might be a solution for your in-laws' TV, as LG-compatible IR remotes are "plug-and-play" and available for less than $10 (avoid "service" remotes for this application, as they include a button that makes it easy to accidentally factory reset the TV, which is both annoying and, in the case of OLED TVs, maybe even potentially harmful[2]. RS-232 is particularly nice for tinkering with one's own TV, as it allows you to disable the OSD entirely, completely neutering all smart TV functions and pop-ups until the TV is turned off (or OSD is re-enabled via RS-232), and also includes video and audio controls not available on any of the IR remotes I've seen (brightness, contrast, bass, treble, etc.). Along with a 4-port IR-controllable USB switch[3] and an audio interface with a TOSLINK input[4], I use the RS-232 functionality as a basis for my desktop "KVM", with inputs, brightness, power, and volume controlled with an Apple Siri remote paired to a Mac. The only times I touch the menus are rare cases where I actually want to use the built-in smart TV apps (viz., for 4K video from services that don't support it on Mac or PC). [1] https://github.com/jasminetroll/LgTvControl/blob/master/Documentation/LG%20TV%20External%20Control.pdf https://github.com/jasminetroll/LgTvControl/blob/master/Docu... [2] Source: unconfirmed Internet claims that the button resets a panel refresh timer that may lead to burn-in and warranty invalidation, which seems crazy for something that could be triggered without confirmation by a simple IR command one might accidentally mis-program into a universal remote by mistyping a single number. [3] https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Sharing-Computers-Peripherals/dp/B083JKDNRJ https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Sharing-Computers-Perip... [4] https://babyface.rme-audio.de https://babyface.rme-audio.de Which is awesome and highly recommended, but for the present application any USB audio interface with low-latency monitoring and TOSLINK should work as well (and if you don't care about mixing the currently active HDMI audio source with other audio like I do, the volume on the TV's built-in speakers and non-digital audio outputs is controllable via RS-232).

zimpenfish 3y ago

Adding an anecdata to the pile - my parents have a Sony Smart TV and yeah, it's a POS. Trying to watch some YouTube videos at Christmas and it would frequently crash with "This page requires too much memory" errors.

RugnirViking 3y ago

I have this problem. I almost cannot use it at all apart from chromecast streaming. Any ideas what could fix it?

arcanemachiner 3y ago
Just speculating, but do a factory reset and never ever connect it to the Internet. Maybe try older firmware if it's available.

InfamousRece 3y ago

When I was a kid my grandparents had an old style TV with vacuum tubes. It also required several minutes to “heat up” before the picture appeared. I guess we’ve come a full circle.

userbinator 3y ago
Minutes? More like seconds, tens of seconds at most; you can watch videos of them starting up on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jImib9Keio8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jImib9Keio8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxUQw5vCDZs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxUQw5vCDZs

Grazester 3y ago

If it's any consolation my in-laws have a similarly sluggish LG WebOS TV. When I go over there I hate having to navigate the menu. At home I have an non smart LG with an Nvidia Shield.

jasomill 3y ago
At least on my LG TV, basic non-"smart" controls are available directly via both RS-232[1] and IR remote without recourse to menus. The IR remote, in particular, might be a solution for your in-laws' TV, as LG-compatible IR remotes are "plug-and-play" and available for less than $10 (avoid "service" remotes for this application, as they include a button that makes it easy to accidentally factory reset the TV, which is both annoying and, in the case of OLED TVs, maybe even potentially harmful[2]. RS-232 is particularly nice for tinkering with one's own TV, as it allows you to disable the OSD entirely, completely neutering all smart TV functions and pop-ups until the TV is turned off (or OSD is re-enabled via RS-232), and also includes video and audio controls not available on any of the IR remotes I've seen (brightness, contrast, bass, treble, etc.). Along with a 4-port IR-controllable USB switch[3] and an audio interface with a TOSLINK input[4], I use the RS-232 functionality as a basis for my desktop "KVM", with inputs, brightness, power, and volume controlled with an Apple Siri remote paired to a Mac. The only times I touch the menus are rare cases where I actually want to use the built-in smart TV apps (viz., for 4K video from services that don't support it on Mac or PC). [1] https://github.com/jasminetroll/LgTvControl/blob/master/Documentation/LG%20TV%20External%20Control.pdf https://github.com/jasminetroll/LgTvControl/blob/master/Docu... [2] Source: unconfirmed Internet claims that the button resets a panel refresh timer that may lead to burn-in and warranty invalidation, which seems crazy for something that could be triggered without confirmation by a simple IR command one might accidentally mis-program into a universal remote by mistyping a single number. [3] https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Sharing-Computers-Peripherals/dp/B083JKDNRJ https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Sharing-Computers-Perip... [4] https://babyface.rme-audio.de https://babyface.rme-audio.de Which is awesome and highly recommended, but for the present application any USB audio interface with low-latency monitoring and TOSLINK should work as well (and if you don't care about mixing the currently active HDMI audio source with other audio like I do, the volume on the TV's built-in speakers and non-digital audio outputs is controllable via RS-232).