Sony BRAVIA firmware update breaks recent televisions

Sony pushed firmware update v114.602.030.1 to its BRAVIA televisions in June 2026. The update introduced regressions affecting Dolby Vision playback, HDMI eARC audio & refresh rate handling across multiple model lines sharing the same system-on-chip platform. Sony's support documentation states that installing an older software version is not possible, leaving affected owners without a rollback path.

Background

Sony distributes firmware to BRAVIA televisions over the air. The automatic update check is enabled by default, & owners who accept the standard privacy terms during initial setup receive updates without further intervention.

Firmware v114.602.030.1 was released for European models & implements support for the BRAVIA Connect mobile application. The same version number was distributed to Asia Pacific markets.

Dolby Vision black screen

A bug report filed against the CoreELEC project on June 8, 2026 documents that after the update, playing any Dolby Vision file with the DV type set to TV-Led (DV-Standard) results in a completely black screen. The audio track continues to play normally in the background, but no video is output.

The report states that the firmware applies to Sony's entire 2024/2025/2026 lineup running on the same SoC platform, & that the issue is therefore likely to affect all of those models once updated. Models named in the report include: - BRAVIA 7 (K-55XR70, K-65XR70, K-75XR70, K-85XR70) - BRAVIA 8 (K-55XR80, K-55XR83, K-55XR84, K-55XR8A, K-65XR80, K-65XR83, K-65XR84, K-65XR8A, K-77XR80, K-77XR83, K-77XR84, K-77XR8A) - BRAVIA 9 (K-65XR90, K-75XR90, K-85XR90)

Refresh rate & playback regressions

Owners reported motion & refresh rate problems following the update on AVSForum. One owner of a BRAVIA 8 55XR80 described continuous stuttering when matching refresh rates, & wrote that the developer option previously used to mitigate similar behaviour no longer had any effect. An owner of an XR-65A95L running the European build v114.602.030.1 reported stuttering specific to 24 Hz content following the update. In the A95L owners' thread, a contributor separately reported motion breaking up specifically in 30 Hz content played through the television's built-in apps.

The same thread documents that the update moved the underlying operating system from Android 12 to Android 14, which changed how ADB connects to the television. Owners using ADB for local automation reported that wired connections no longer work & that wireless debugging must be enabled instead, breaking existing setups.

HDMI eARC audio issues

Audio dropouts & synchronisation failures over HDMI eARC have been reported by XR-65A95L owners in a dedicated AVSForum thread. Contributors describe dropouts & sync loss when audio is routed through an external receiver or soundbar.

Image processing & banding regressions

Contributors to the A95L owners' thread reported image processing regressions after the update, starting June 6, 2026. One user described thick rolling banding artifacts in Dolby Vision content when the "Smooth Gradation" setting was set to Low, visible above black in a dark room, alongside a softer image when using the television's Reality Creation processing on 1080p content. The same report noted audio reverting to the television's internal speakers on power-on despite an always-on receiver being connected, & concluded that Sony's custom video processing pipeline appeared to be bypassed by the update. Other contributors in the same thread disputed the extent of the issues; at least one user reported no problems with 30 Hz content or with eARC audio sync via an external soundbar following the update, indicating the regressions did not affect every unit.

No downgrade path

Sony's firmware support pages address downgrading directly. In response to the question of whether an older version can be installed, the documentation states that installation of an older software version is not possible, & that the latest version contains all the benefits & improvements of previous versions.

Because the update is distributed automatically by default & cannot be reversed, owners whose televisions develop the regressions described above have no supported means of restoring the previous behaviour.