1 (edited by demarks51 2017-06-26 08:37:53)

Topic: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

I think I missed getting my $20 alarm clock from SONY. What do I need to do to get mine? smile
Do I get one for each of my Dash units?

Update:
FOR REAL. Sony is offering a replacement product for EACH of the Dash units you own.
Call 1-239-245-6374 and get a reference number for CS person.
You then need to have your serial number. You will need to send them a picture of the serial number from the unit. I took two pictures, one from the back tag near the power supply entry and one from the Device Info screen on the unit. This is to be sent to:
STVSP@AM.SONY.COM
Then you can chose a Bluetooth Speaker
https://www.sony.com/electronics/wirele … s/srs-xb10 
or
Clock radio similar to this one
https://www.sony.com/electronics/clock-radios/icf-c1

Owner of 3 Sony Dash, 2 Info 8.

2 (edited by SeerWhoSees 2017-06-26 11:35:41)

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

demarks51 wrote:

I think I missed getting my $20 alarm clock from SONY. What do I need to do to get mine? smile
Do I get one for each of my Dash units?

Update:
FOR REAL. Sony is offering a replacement product for EACH of the Dash units you own.
Call 1-239-245-6374 and get a reference number for CS person.
You then need to have your serial number. You will need to send them a picture of the serial number from the unit. I took two pictures, one from the back tag near the power supply entry and one from the Device Info screen on the unit. This is to be sent to:
STVSP@AM.SONY.COM
Then you can chose a Bluetooth Speaker
or
Clock radio similar to this one



Yes, they are offering that and also have offered it to Me.  But I feel, we paid a lot of money for our Dash devices and to offer an 20.00 alarm clock or a speaker just isn't enough!   The Sony Dash is an internet viewer and if they really want to offer an replacement then they need to offer something of "equal" value that is an internet viewer.  We can't access the internet via an alarm clock or a blue tooth speaker. 

I am surprised there is no class action lawsuit against them for this.  Just discontinue a product and offer subpar replacements?

They need to offer something that you can get pandora and other music stations, something that allows you to put photos on it, apps, etc. 

200.00 a pop for The Dash and this is what they offer?  Not good enough for Me.  That's for sure.

(would not allow Me to reply with the links)

3 (edited by fsohrabi 2017-06-26 16:49:14)

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

Demars51,

I have shown my frustration with Sony I already left them a message telling them how far they can shove the dash where the sun does not shine. You are correct, the dash is a old unit. But just because it is old it does not mean it should become paper weight and I have to throw the unit in the trash. My problem with Sony is that they created the dash in a way where it is depending on a server they host instead of using the word wide web. So now that they are pulling the site all the units are going to go dead in July. I told them I can understand if the unit was broken and I took it to Sony and they said sorry it's no longer in warranty and we are not going to fix it. However, It is another thing for them to say we are going to pull the plug on a server that is currently working but we decide we are going to turn it off and by doing that we are going to screw every owner who purchased dash. The dash was not a cheap unit. It was $99 when I purchased it. So they have no right to break a unit that is working because they no longer wish to support it. They should of taught of that when they were creating this shitty unit. 

I think it is a ploy for Sony to disable the dash and say oh BTW here is a new unit and if you want; now you have to pay another $100 or more. That is bull and I use my dash unit everyday and what they are doing is wrong and they know it. Like Duane said they could easily come up with an update that make the unit independent of their server or they can put the source code for the unit so people like Duane can re-progam it. Ok let me ask you this question and I leave you with this taught. What if you purchased a Sony TV and you paid let say $1500 for a 65 inch tv. Now 6 years later you turn your tv on and it does not work because the TV broadcasting company decided that your TV was old unit and they would no longer broadcast to your TV. Even though your tv is still functioning fine.Now you have to go purchase a new TV and pay  another 1600 in order or them to broadcast to your tv. Wouldn't that piss you off? well this is the same thing except it's a cheaper version of the TV. What it boils down to is what they are doing is monopoly and a ploy to force you to purchase their next product.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

The TV comparison is not far off
Do you remember the switch from analog to digital television 
A whole lot of analog TV's where rendered obsolete

I am in the electronic repair industry and you would be  shocked at the amount of under 3 year old units I send
to recycling every month for the lack of available repair parts

Sony supported the dash for 7 years which is far longer then there support for a current television model

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

bmtv wrote:

The TV comparison is not far off
Do you remember the switch from analog to digital television 
A whole lot of analog TV's where rendered obsolete

I am in the electronic repair industry and you would be  shocked at the amount of under 3 year old units I send
to recycling every month for the lack of available repair parts

Sony supported the dash for 7 years which is far longer then there support for a current television model

However, they don't shut off something on their end that causes your current TV to turn into a doorstop.

Cleaning up any loose bits and bytes.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

There is some similar past history with Sony....

Sony originally sold the PlayStation 3 with a feature called "OtherOS", which gave one the ability to install Linux or other compatible operating systems,, and many people bought them solely for that very purpose, since they were cheap and fast enough to make affordable compute farms.

At some point, they announced the PS3 Slim and told folks that they would not support OtherOS in that version, but in addition to that, they removed the OtherOS functionality in regular PS3 units they'd already sold.

They were sued for this, and it dragged out with various rulings for and against them for several years, until they settled and wrote $55 checks to the folks that bought them for use with OtherOS.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

There is no basis for a lawsuit.  The service was provided as-is, as available and there was no guarantee of it continuing beyond the consumer warranty attached to the unit.  It's been a mess for years.

How many cell phones have been turned into bricks because the wireless companies turned off the networks they ran on?  How many TiVos have been rendered doorstops because TiVo quit supporting series 1 units? Both of those relied on paid services to remain functional.

It's the nature of tech.

I bought my C10 on closeout for $60 in 2011.  I think it's great that Duane has taken on keeping it running (probably better than Sony's recent track record) but it doesn't owe me anything at this point.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

This is the nature of tech that relies on a remote server. The host WILL turn off the server when it no longer makes financial sense. Another example is Microsoft's PlaysForSure (ironic, no?). The  best advise is to NOT buy into this type of tech. The only exception I would make is tech that is open/hackable like Chumbies. There have been a couple of people who came up with offline software for Chumbies that, while providing reduced functionality, did allow a Chumby to operate without said server. The original premise of Chumby was to make a device people could hack/play with/learn from. If you do not like the way Sony is behaving, the best thing you can do is to not support them. Do not buy their products. Sony has a long history of treating their customers poorly. It is difficult for me to say but in the case of the Sony Dash, I do not blame them. Most companies in their position would (and have) done the very same thing.

Tar, feathers, congress. Some assembly required.

9 (edited by kxrf 2017-06-27 05:10:43)

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

If Sony had half a heart, they would have not locked the unit up so thoroughly before abandoning it.  It is one thing having it in constant contact with the mothership, and another thing altogether to throw it open to the masses to utilize.

Windows (and others) did not send code to disable XP when they decided not to support it; "they just said you're on your own".  I think if Sony "let go", no one would be sorry Sony is out of the picture.  I guess with Sony the fact that the Dash could not even do the simplest things (i.e., boot, keep time) without the mothership may have been great for Sony marketing at the time, but now we are left with a perfectly operable paperweight.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

Sony had a valid reason for locking it down - without it they would have not been able to support of the video and audio services they had.  All but a couple of them have some form of DRM and any contract would have required the device to be as non-hackable as possible.

At Chumby, we talked with many of those companies about adding their services to our devices.  Most asked for the same thing, and we chose to keep the device hackable rather than offer those services.  It's hard to say which is the better course to take - a open device with limited features, or a locked-down device with rich features.

That doesn't mean that they couldn't have unlocked it at the end - it's quite possible that nobody is left who knows how to do that for this product.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

I'm curious - what do you think the new breed of voice-activated "helper" devices like the Amazon Echo, etc will still be able to do if/when their backend services no longer work?

There are lots of new "IoT" devices - doorbells, garage door openers, sprinkle systems, etc - that all do the same thing.  They'll all stop working when the service goes away.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

Great conversation!
It is good to get this out in the open. Sony didn't want to hear this so they dismantled the message boards. Thanks, Duane, for opening this channel to let people share their feelings about the Dash.
I try to look at the upside. I really think the Dashers will be amazed at how much better their units will work once directed to the BlueOcty site.
The movie side of the Dash was pretty amazing. The picture quality is pretty good for the size of the screen. I have watched some movies on it even recently and it was pretty neat.
Q: Will there be the ability to watch movies from a USB stick on the Dash?
Q: Is it possible to connect with some video sites such as Crackle or Snag Films?

Owner of 3 Sony Dash, 2 Info 8.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

The media player in the dash is still there (I haven't changed the firmware).  The CP has the video media item, and the "USB" option, although it's now called "My Video Files" to follow standard chumby nomenclature.

I haven't tested it yet, but there's no reason it should not work - perhaps the existing bets testers can give it a shot.

As to video services - I don't know of any that do not require some form of DRM and at least a contract of some sort.  Many of the music services have moved past that, but the video services are still holding on pretty tight.

It's *extremely* unlikely that Blue Octy would be able to enter into a contract with any of those services for what is basically a third party hack to a discontinued product - a hack which necessarily would compromise any DRM.  We can do what we're doing and keep the device sufficiently secure.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

If I can connect you to a non-DRM source, could that be arranged?
Roku has a large array of video sources and some may not be DRM since they show "old movies" that may be considered Public Domain. Would that work?

Owner of 3 Sony Dash, 2 Info 8.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

I'm pretty sure those services are pulling from here:

https://archive.org/details/feature_films

If there's enough interest, I suppose I can put something together.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

That would be great. I knew you could come up with something.
Put that on your todo list. After you fix the Dash.

Owner of 3 Sony Dash, 2 Info 8.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

bmtv wrote:

The TV comparison is not far off
Do you remember the switch from analog to digital television 
A whole lot of analog TV's where rendered obsolete

I am in the electronic repair industry and you would be  shocked at the amount of under 3 year old units I send
to recycling every month for the lack of available repair parts

Sony supported the dash for 7 years which is far longer then there support for a current television model

You're making a false equivalence.  When was the last time (or ever?) that Sony repaired or provided spare parts for a Dash?  All they did was design it to be wholly dependent on their servers.  They essentially discouraged partners from developing and/or maintaining apps for it.  Then they just junked the whole thing without allowing any third party the opportunity to take over the support for it.  The work that chumby is doing is fully without any assistance from Sony.  They won't even give out the keys to unlock access to functions, even though they are now worthless to Sony.  At best, Sony won't release a pack of lawyers to shut this whole effort down.

Sony's behavior in the Dash shutdown was callous and unnecessarily cruel.  I spoke with several of Sony's customer support people over the last few weeks.  Literally, Every single one of them could not have been more pleased that Dash owners are upset about this shutdown.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

Thanks very much, Demarks51...I called today and have my Event number for the bluetooth speaker.  At least Sony is offering something for the brick.  Appreciate your post! 

demarks51 wrote:

I think I missed getting my $20 alarm clock from SONY. What do I need to do to get mine? smile
Do I get one for each of my Dash units?

Update:
FOR REAL. Sony is offering a replacement product for EACH of the Dash units you own.
Call 1-239-245-6374 and get a reference number for CS person.
You then need to have your serial number. You will need to send them a picture of the serial number from the unit. I took two pictures, one from the back tag near the power supply entry and one from the Device Info screen on the unit. This is to be sent to:
STVSP@AM.SONY.COM
Then you can chose a Bluetooth Speaker

or
Clock radio similar to this one

19 (edited by alexlefebvre 2017-07-14 17:17:42)

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

Hi,

I have requested Sony a Bluetooth Speaker as replacement 2 weeks back (10 open days tomorrow).  Got a confirmation that they ordered the speaker for me saying that I should get a tracking number within 3-4 days and nothing since then...

Did any if us received the replacement item without tracking number?

Edit:

I received it today.  Never got a tracking number.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

Do you have to send in  your Dash to get the speaker? Assume no - so then you can get the speaker and use the Dash w the chumby os?

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

Yes, you are right, you can keep the dash and still receive speaker or cheap alarm clock.

22 (edited by demarks51 2017-07-19 09:05:06)

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

Believe me, Sony does not want their Dashes back.
I got 3 speakers for my 3 Dash units. Speakers are sorta cool in that you can pair two of them to source and get REAL stereo sound. One speaker sounds good for its size.
Hope everything works out for you.

Owner of 3 Sony Dash, 2 Info 8.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

If I get a speaker or alarm clock from them, will they disable my dash now that they have the serial number and it will be a brick ?

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

freekshow wrote:

If I get a speaker or alarm clock from them, will they disable my dash now that they have the serial number and it will be a brick ?

Not my experience. I had turned my alarm off and put it back in night mode over a week ago. Haven't laid a finger on it since and I think that's why it hasn't gotten an update popup (of course, I hope I hadn't hexed that just now in writing this). So I'm leaving it be in night mode until Duane and compadres' new release.

Re: clock/speaker from sony for dash shutdown.

I got 3 dashes and got 3 speakers for a *replacement* product. One dash is at my office in offline mode clock only. One by my bed is in 1604 clock only mode. The one in the living room by my chair is working as a *normal* dash and has been for several days now without getting an update message. Go figure. Don't think they would take the time to sabotage. There seems to be a lot of Dash units out there.

Owner of 3 Sony Dash, 2 Info 8.