Hi Quinnicus,
Thank you for your posts on the subject of Bravia Sync.
I have a Sony Bravia KD-43XE8396 4K Android TV, & I have just read way more than several posts about Bravia Sync seemingly NOT working 'properly' (if at all) for some people. It did my head in just trying to understand them (I failed unfortunately😕).
I have NOT (yet) read whatever is at the links you provided.
My problem is that I have tried more than several times (with remote support from Sony) to get Bravia Sync to do ANYTHING at all (except disable or change the normal function of a number of buttons on my Sky Remote) such that despite THREE 'Factory re-sets', my Sky TV remote still has no control over the volume & mute buttons when watching an item on ANY 'sky' channel.
I have no idea if it was a 'normal behaviour' that connecting my Sky Box to my new Sony TV was the cause of the Sky remotes volume & mute buttons being permanently & automatically disabled, but there was no warning anywhere in ANY 'info' that comes with the TV.
This never happened with either of my three previous TV's (but only one was a smart tv).
Factory re-sets of my Sony TV have NOT resulted in restoration of Sky TV remote control of these volume functions.
There is also faaaaar too little info (on my Sony TV) about WHAT it is supposed to do & HOW it is supposed to do it i.e. like NOT saying that it will be creating 'phantom source names' like 'Player 1/HDMI 2' to 'work' alongside HDMI 2 (why does it need TWO source names for the SAME source?), that 'HDMI Control' setting needs to be found & enabled, on the connected HDMI device that you wish to 'control' alongside the TV, leading to MUCH confusion, especially when enabling it makes no difference anyway (except, in my case to create LESS control options).
Before I got this Sony 4K TV, I was able to just use a previous Samsung (not smart) TV remote to turn on/off the TV. The Sky box remote did everything else including volume up/down & mute, & since I have no outside aeriel connection I had no need to 'tune' the TV, or use the tv remote to change channel, or 'change tv input sources'.
Even when I used a small screen samsung 'smart' tv, the Sky box remote worked as before i.e. tv remote just used for on/off (and sometimes change the 'source' channel - since I got a Fire TV box).
So now I have this Sony Bravia. Even when watching 'Sky' (hdmi control OFF) I now still have to remember which of TWO remotes to use depending on 'desired action'.
When Bravia Sync was enabled it NEVER turned OFF or ON, (in sync with the tv) ANY connected 'device' (that has an HDMI Control setting) that I tried it with.
I have no idea which HDMI port of the 4 (including HDMI 3/ARC) is supposed to be the one to actually use for 'Bravia Sync' to work, but I can remember YEARS ago that a Philips CRT TV had a 'autoswitching' feature that would switch from either 'freeview' or a 'Sky Analogue' SCART source to a specific other SCART source when that source was turned on (but only if that 'other' source was connected to the CORRECT SCART port. I don't remember if this 'autoswitching' included turning two devices on and/or off at the same time.
Consequently, as it NEVER worked properly for me - even with Sony help, I have no more brain energy to spend on this issue, so I don't care anymore.
Especially since all this feature appears to be for, is to enable a user to press ONE button on ONE remote instead of one or more buttons on EACH remote, for switching off & on certain devices - but since they also have to remember to 'close' any app, channel or game first anyway before switching off their devices - using THAT devices remote, instead of the TV/Device remote, which they would have to switch back to depending on Bravia Sync settings, I can't see any real point to it.
But I guess it MAYBE depends WHICH kind of device is connected to the TV.
Surround Sound devices (connected via optical audio cable or hdmi?) being switched on & off in sync with the tv would be great, especially if switching ON of these two could be enacted when inserting a Bluray DVD into the slot of a PS3 or PS4 (connected to the correct hdmi port - which one is that?) that is currently on 'standby' mode.
Also when ejecting the same bluray dvd disc, switching all THREE OFF automatically at the same time when the tv is set to the PS3/4 source, would be nice, but not essential, since you might not want the PS3/4 to automatically come on next time you turn on the TV (even if you DO want the 'surround sound amp to come on)
First_Knight
