topic AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube in Android TV

AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube

simonbruce82 — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 19:27:44 GMT

I have just received the AF8 which is an amazing television, but so far has been a frustrating experience as just as I settle down to watch something off YouTube or Netflix, it will start file and then after a short while the sound keeps playing, but this screen goes black.

With the info button presses on Netflix, I have monitored the resolution playing, at it seems to go black as it tries to go from 720 to 1080, or from 1080 to 1440. Internet isn’t the best, but I never have trouble streaming to my other television’s Apple TV or any other device here.

TV is connected by WiFi but in same room and latest BT router.

Firmware and all software up to date.

Have tried a soft reboot, unplug for several minutes and even a factory reset.

Same problem still recurring.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Re: AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube

EdwinaU — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 19:33:30 GMT

Hi Simon,

Welcome to the community.

It may be worth trying some of the tips here to help with your streaming. Let us know how you get on.

Best wishes,

Re: AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube

simonbruce82 — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 19:56:51 GMT

Appreciate the reply, but the symptoms I am experiencing are not due to insufficient speed as I can stream perfectly on all other devices. When the resolution attempts to ramp up from 720 > 1080 or 1080 > 1440 etc, the tv goes black but the sound keeps playing. YouTube and Netflix both have the same issue which happens intermittently, although more often than not.

Re: AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube

Win_88 — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 12:46:07 GMT

Hi Simon,

I understand that the issue may not be related to the connection speed, but it could be related to compatibility or other factors. A quick way to test this is to connect the TV to a different network (I recommend a hot spot created by your smartphone, preferably using 4G) to see if the same or other issues will occur.

For the same reason, I'd also try connecting via LAN just as a test too. Seems that you've gone through a long list of troubleshooting steps so far so I wouldn't see a reason to hold back on these two attempts.

Hope this helps in giving more insight.

Win_88

Re: AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube

Educated_Pork — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 15:16:54 GMT

Hi,

I raised this very issue back in April - the thread here relating to it is at https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/android-tv/decoded-video-disappearing-on-resolution-change-with-kd-55xe9305

@dutchiceconfirmed the issue in that thread on an A1 (my set is a KD-55XE9305). I escalated to Netflix, but because the issue only manifested itself with the March firmware (v6.2858) update to my set, they essentially told me it would be down to Sony to fix their firmware regression.

Which they have not done.

For programs that encounter this bug (and it's not every film/tv show etc), I just have to watch on another device unfortunately - it's a pain, and without further effort on the part of Sony, I fear it may not get fixed. I don't know if a fix for this is in the firmware version currently being developed to deal with the dimming issues reported, or if it's being fixed in an newer Android TV release for this model.. 😞

Sorry for the bad news.

Dean

Re: AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube

Educated_Pork — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 15:20:55 GMT

On the plus side, knowing now that this issue manifests with YouTube as well (which I tend to not use - hence not encountering the bug) may confirm to those who can address this that it's a firmware bug, likely related to adaptively changing video decoding or surface display parameters in some form.

Dean

Re: AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube

MiCal1967 — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 15:23:11 GMT

When issue appears try press and hold Home button on R/C, then close every other app except Netflix or Youtube and restart your video. Another app e.g. GUIDE may keep Display-Screen Aspect ratio or Resolution for Video, different than your Video.

Try also to set a fixed resolution playback for Netflix by entering your account through your browser.

Last thing, try a reset for your picture settings during playback: Action Menu - Picture - Advanced settings -Reset or experiment on various settings of Brightness Colour Clarity and Motion

Re: AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube

simonbruce82 — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 15:40:29 GMT

This is both bad and good news to be honest. I am amazed that not more people have experienced this, but thankfully it's not just me. Sony need to address this quickly as it's not every day you buy a £2400 television, only to find that it's the ONLY device you have ever owned that fails to stream a simple Netflix of YouTube video!

Sony, please acknowledge the issue and provide us with answers!

Re: AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube

simonbruce82 — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 15:41:48 GMT

All intersting things I may try. Thanks.

But really Sony?!

Re: AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube

simonbruce82 — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 15:42:38 GMT

Tried that too. 4G hotspot here off my iPhone is a strong 30+ Mbps and still, the video will occasionally go blank and only the sound will play.

Re: AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube

Educated_Pork — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 08:53:21 GMT

Unfortunately I don't think this isn't a case of any of the display/picture settings resulting in the failure. Those settings are not used by decoding performed the applications being discussed (Netflix/YouTube), but instead operate on the output to the display panel itself (via the picture processor - the X1 Extreme or whatever is in the particular model).

When the video output vanishes, it's *only* the decoded video surface that is black. Overlays displayed by Netflix etc (such as the video statistics, the FF/RW controls, and subtitles) continue to display as usual - showing that this is not a general display failure.

Besides, resetting the display settings to default does not address the issue. Similarly, force closing the application does not fix it. Indeed, when I first reported this issue I restored my TV to factory defaults several times, even going as far as rolling back to an earlier version of the Netflix application - with no success.

At its core, the Android developer guidelines state the following for Video Decoding:

Device implementations must support dynamic video resolution and frame rate switching through the standard Android APIs within the same stream for all VP8, VP9, H.264, and H.265 codecs in real time and up to the maximum resolution supported by each codec on the device.

As this is impacting two different applications, by two different authors (Netflix/YouTube), then it seems more likely that there is an issue in the device implementation present in the v6.258 (and later) firmware.

Cheers,
Dean

Re: AF8 Black screen with sound when streaming Netflix and YouTube

simonbruce82 — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 09:27:15 GMT

I hope Sony are following this thread. I forwarded a link to them yesterday in reply to email correspondence with support regarding the fault.

I successfully watched the entire of Annihilation last night, on Netflix, in 2160 Dolby Vision. It ramped from 720 to 1080 and then all the way up to 2160. No hiccups. No black screen. A near-flawless presentation (for streaming!).

Also did an online support chat with Netflix who categorically stated that this is a device issue.

Can anyone else try and play an episode of Penn and Teller Fool Us (season 2 in Vegas) on Netflix and let me know if they have the same issue? I can replicate the problem every time!

As for YouTube videos, yes, you can force it to pick a resolution, but that's on a per video basis. When you let it do it's own thing and switch res once buffered, videos will suffer the same problem, but link Netflix, it's not every video.

Sony, please acknowledge the issue and respond!