KD-48A9 Sparkles

[QuinnDexter]

Hi.

I recently got a KD-48A9 Oled TV. Native apps all render HDR content perfectly. However, on HDR content from a Panasonic UB820 player, all HDMI ports except #2 has a vertical line of sparkles on the left side of the screen.  

Playing a Dolby Vision disk or HDR10 title yields the vertical sparkling.  It only stops if you turn off HDR on the player. Again, if I connect to HDMI port 2 this doesn't happen.

I've gone through the usual support procedures of clearing memory, rebooting, resetting etc but it still happens.  

I did think that this might be a cable issue, but after buying a premium one the issue is still there.

All HDMI ports are set to enhanced mode. 

[Joe_Dohn]

I agree with you to be honest, since the older player worked and the newer one didn't, you can assume it's he player, but we'll know for sure once you get the replacement.

Keep us up to date so we can help ^^

- JD

[QuinnDexter]

Decided to get the UB9000 as a replacement.  Connected it to port 4 (one of the original worst offending connections) and played Total recall......... No sparkles.  Played a few other blue rays and no sparkles.  Going to keep an eye on this but so far it's looking like the player was at fault.  

Cheers

Adam

[QuinnDexter]

Ok. Another update.   

The Sparkles returned using the UBP9000. So sent the TV back to John Lewis for a replacement.  The new TV arrived, was setup and calibrated then installed the latest firmware and no sparkles.  So far I've not seen them again.  So looks like the TV was at fault.  

[Mchaggis69]

...Give it time...

I thought my sparkles had gone at the start of all my troubles but no...

I've had to disable dolbyvision in the meantime. I get regular emails from Sony saying they are investigating, but no resolution yet.

[Joe_Dohn]

@QuinnDexter @Mchaggis69

Thank you both for the updates, I haven't really seen this issue anywhere else, so I'm guessing it's either a bad batch sort of thing or there's some reason for it being rare (and hence taking time to investigate).

Hopefully we'll get some good news once they get back to you with a response @Mchaggis69.

Again, much appreciated for the updates guys!

- JD

[QuinnDexter]

Well it's been a while.  So far I've been watching non Dolby vision 4K blurays and apart from the rattling from the chassis at certain frequencies, everything has been good. 

So decided to watch one of my Dolby vision Blurays and the sparkling is back.  This has only just started and I couldn't repro it when I got first got this new replacement.  

You can pause the bluray and the sparkles still move around.  Press stop and the sparkles are still there.  Eject the disk and the sparkles go.   This is using HDMI 4.  Surely to god this can't be a hardware issue, otherwise QA would have seen this?  I have no idea what is up with this TV.  But so far it's

1. Rattling from Chassis at certain audio frequencies.

2. Sparkling during Dolby Vision on external source.

Support haven't got a clue.

[Mchaggis69]

My DolbyVision from my external source (Nvidia Shield) on HDMI3 has been working ok for a week or two, but last night sparkles came back. There is no rhyme or reason. It started half way through watching some DV content on netflix.

Disabled it again.

I purchased a new Nvidia Shield in December 2020 specifically because the latest version could output DV. Its a shame the TV on HDMI3 seems incapable of processing it properly.

Been months now waiting on Sony providing a solution. Because its so random I havent really been able to test it with another Dolbyvision source. I need to borrow my sons AppleTV box and try that over a few days. See if it also sparkles.

[QuinnDexter]

Where are your sparkles rendered?  Mine are always on the left side of the screen in a vertical orientation.

[Mchaggis69]

Whole Screen.

I sent this video to Sony - watch it in 1080p to see the sparkles.

https://youtu.be/iM-btPADgHU

[Mchaggis69]

Update.

Got a hold of my son’s 4k AppleTV box tonight.

Switched directly from my NVidia Shield which was producing all sparkles on Dolbyvision and I get exactly the same with the Apple box. As soon as I booted the AppleTV it offered to switch on Dolbyvision and *boom* the screen was covered in sparkles.

The AppleTV has the facility to check HDMI cables and sure enough it reports them as fine.

This is definitely an issue for my TV on HDMI3 and I’m beginning to think its actually faulty.

I’m going to send a note to Sony support now.