Freeview, the free-to-air services on the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) platform in the UK has just gone dark on select machines after a firmware 1.7 hit certain Sony machines. After the firmware release, the service is no longer able to be decoded and work with Sony DVD recorders like the RDR-HXD870 and other Pioneer DVD players. From Sony, via Twitter:

 Sorry about this. A major technical issue has been flagged to our dedicated team. We will update you asap. Thanks. 

According to Freeview operator Arqiva:

 it appears something has change(d) in the way these devices are receiving EPG data 

While the official answer points to a firmware update that will fix the issue at hand, though no given timeframe has been hinted, members of the community have found some other solutions, though not sanctioned by Sony. You can read about their efforts in the Sony forums. In the meantime it suggested that users should preform the following steps:

• Turn the machine on and eject any disks.
• Press the “stop” button on the recorder. While still holding it down, press and release the “on/standby” button, and then release the “stop” button as well. This resents the machine deleting the corrupted data.
• Owners should then follow the on-screen instructions to retune the machines, selecting “digital guide” rather than “guide plus” when given the choice.

Though over-the-air broadcasting might seem like a strange thing to those living in the States, the technology is still a popular way for many in Europe to get their contents. Don’t be mistaken with what you might have known about rabbit ear antennas as this is a far more mature service with exceptional quality that we tend to want from our cable providers.

Discuss:

If you live in Europe, are you effected by Freeview being down on select Sony machines?

[Via Cnet]