Sony’s Bravia line of LCD displays were launched to much fanfare and a healthy ad campaign by Sony late last year.  The line proved to be the deciding factor in Sony’s war with cross town rival Sharp in the LCD display market.  The launch of the new line propelled Sony past Sharp in LCD sales over the Christmas season of ’05, re-establishing Sony as the LCD leader.  But maybe Sony rushed these sets into production too quickly? 

Some 400,000 Bravia sets and some Grand Wega LCD TVs are experiencing software problems that lead to troubles shutting down and coming out of standby mode.  Affected sets show the symptoms after 1200 hours of running time.  Sony has setup a support site for details if you’ve been affected with the problem.  Sony’s support for detailed instructions.

Affected models

This SNAFU might go a long way in lost confidence in Sony.  I own a Sony LCD rear projector myself, from the Grand Wega line.  It’s way too old to have this defect but it’s a great set all around.  I have seen chinks in the once mighty Sony display armor, they’re not the powerhouse they used to be.  Sony will be watched closely by the CES community in general especially as the launch of the PS3 nears.  If Sony can avert disaster and perform a timely release of its new console they’ll save face.  But it’s my gut instincts that PS3 won’t be released until late THIS year.  I’ll look into the latest word of the PS3 and report what I find soon.

Edit 3/28/06 - edited the word “THIS”.  Sony PS3 indeed won't be released until late '06.