Sony has given an excellent little Christmas gift to U.K.-based 2021 Bravia TV owners, issuing a firmware update that ensures they can access a range of popular catch-up TV services.
The rollout of firmware v6.4304 means services including the BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and All4 are now available on most of Sony’s 2021 TV lineup. The services were already available on older Sony TVs, but were not available for this year’s models because the company dropped the Android TV operating system in favour of Google TV.
That change meant Sony’s newest TVs were incompatible with the likes of BBC iPlayer, though the company promised at the time of their launch it would bring them back via a future update. The Japanese firm has now made good on that promise in an update that was first spotted by HDTVTest reviewer Vincent Teoh on Twitter.
Applicable Sony Bravia TV models are listed below. Owners of those models can check if they have received the update by pressing the “Help” button on their remote and looking at the software version number, which is found below the model name. If it shows version number PKG6.4304.xxxx or higher, it means the software has already been updated.
For those who haven’t yet received the update, they can use the “Automatically Check for Updates” function to initiate the process manually. If that still doesn’t work, users have further recourse by following the steps described on Sony’s support pages to manually install the new update.
Sony’s 2021 TV models are certainly popular. It’s high-end models include the Sony A90J OLED television that ranked as the Best Living Room TV in the 2021 edition of HDTVTest’s annual TV shootout based on its video processing capabilities, impactful HDR, 50Hz motion and bright room performance. Sony’s 2021 lineup also includes the Sony A80J OLED model, which boasts many similar qualities.
Although the company’s 2021 TVs were undoubtedly very strong performers, as we’ve come to expect from Sony, the omission of free catch-up TV apps was a big issue for U.K. viewers – not everyone wants to go forking out for subscriptions to the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and so in their case they’re much more reliant on those free services. It’ll be that crowd which is among the happiest to see today’s firmware update.
