Owners of smart TVs are used to apps like YouTube and the BBC iPlayer, and even the ability to surf the web, but Sony's refreshed attempt at Google TV seeks to streamline the whole process by combining a Chrome browser with a selection of Google Play apps - and all controlled by a double-sided trackpad remote with a keyboard on its reverse. Can this Android-based, slim-line box that depends on Google Play for its apps seriously challenge the likes of the, 360, YouView or smart TVs? Pre-loaded apps A quick inspection of the NSZ-GS7's apps reveals one huge oversight; there's no BBC iPlayer, though it is in the pipeline. What about catch-up apps for ITV Player, Channel 4 and Five?

1. Sony Camera Firmware Update

For a UK-centric service these apps ought to be integral, or at least idiot-proof access to them via Chrome. The main toolbar, accessed by pressing the 'home' button on the remote, includes (from left to right), the current time, notifications and links to recent apps, a grid icon that leads to a full page of native and downloaded apps, a shortcut to show live TV if a set-top box is connected, and then dedicated shortcuts to YouTube, Google Play, the all-important Chrome, the less crucial Sony Entertainment Network (Video Unlimited, Music Unlimited, DailyMotion, GolfLink, Livestrong.com and NPR radio), a search option, and a help button.

In the apps folder we found Netflix (the much-needed result of a recent firmware update) and Twitter, though only 16 apps can be shown at one time (in A-Z fashion) while a third of the screen lies empty. That's a real shame because most of the apps here are either repetitive from elsewhere in the GUI or of limited appeal - such as a link to the Media Player (USB stick access), Chrome, Google Play, YouTube, Search, Product Registration, Help Guide and Settings.

It's a shame since scrolling down a page is a stodgy experience. Other apps of note here include Track ID (Sony's own music identifier) and Photos (encompassing photos stored on a USB stick, Flickr or on an Android phone. Google Play Being a Google TV box, the NSZ-GS7 is at least in part subject to the quality and range of the apps it can download from Google Play. We visited Google Play to download extra apps, but met with great disappointment; Netflix, Red Karaoke for Google, IMDb, Flixster, Evernote, Weather Channel, iStoryBook, OpenOffice Document Reader and Fox News are probably the highlights - few of them video-orientated - with myriad more apps that you really won't want to bother with. Presumably the aim is to offer every app used by Android phones on Google TV, though surely 99% of them should be providing video, movies and TV. Sony Entertainment Network We also worry slightly about the motley collection of apps hiding behind the Sony Entertainment Network link.

Find out if there is a software update available for your device. Home Support Operating Systems Device Software Updates Advanced Devices Software Updates. Advanced Devices - Software Updates. Sony Xperia® Z2 Tablet last updated; Sony Xperia® Z3v last updated; Verizon Wireless. SAN DIEGO, Jan. 15, 2019- Sony Electronics Inc. Today announced a major upgrade to its a9 mirrorless camera that will be available via a firmware update. Sony's revolutionary a9 camera will receive several major enhancements to its award-winning autofocus (AF) performance and image quality, as well.

Sony Camera Firmware Update

It's good to see both Video and Music Unlimited services, but we're not sure why Sony has chosen to include some of the frankly uninspiring apps - such as Golflink - from its Smart TV platform. We're not sure of the point of this extra layer.

Search The search function is poor, capable of discovering content in its Media Player - that means a USB stick, if attached - or through a basic web search of Chrome. It doesn't, for instance, find any relevant video; a search for Top Gear merely performs a search of the web that doesn't include a link to the content on the BBC iPlayer, or BBC America episodes available to all in YouTube. Most smart TVs, although limited in content, have better search functions than this; we'd expected more from Google on this front.

Hardware For all of Google TV's faults as a platform, Sony has done a decent enough job with the WiFi-endowed NSZ-GS7, though it does run on the ageing Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS. Equipped with HDMI in and out for switching purposes), it's possessed of a digital optical audio output, two USB slots and a Bluetooth link for communicating with Android phones. As well as wired LAN, there's also an IR blaster cable. Much like your average smartphone, the NSZ-GS7 has about 8GB of storage on-board. Remote control Those not able to master the frankly odd remote control, which puts a touchpad in amongst a plethora of baffling controls (though Android phone owners will be au fait with some of them) and a QWERTY keyboard on the reverse, can opt for the Sony Media Remote app available for iOS and Android. It's more sensitive than the 'proper' remote and does make operating both the browser and the YouTube app easier.

Digital media support It's possible to play video, music and photos from a docked USB stick. In our test we managed to get AVI, AVC HD, MKV, MOV, MPEG, WMV and WMV HD video files to play while music (MP3, AAC, FLAC & WAV) and photo (JPEG, BMP, GIF & PNG) compatibility also impressed. The thumbnail representation of video content is excellent.

ESFile Explorer File Manager, a free app from Google Play, can delve into cloud storage servers from the likes of Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive as well as NAS drives and your phone or PC. AVia Media Player does a similar job for free, too, though it didn't work with our Mac running TwonkyMedia UPnP.

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There's also a tempting Plex for Google TV app, which costs 62p. It's a neat intro to a new way of thinking; Sony builds the basic hardware, and app developers offers extra features and functionality. Sounds messy and potentially confusing for many.

Inability to Manually Install Firmware Updates After a bit of research, we found that a firmware update had been issued on August 3, 2012, with a build date of July 24, 2012 (the firmware ends in 20120724URSCS67254, with the initial 2012 number being the build date). This new firmware was the one that Tony, the Sony representative, was referring to in the Google TV Hangout video. However, when we tried to update the firmware during our initial set-up on August 24, the unit first said, 'Your system is currently up to date,' but also gave the 'last checked date' as July 23, 2012. Since we knew there was a July 24 build, released on August 3, we opted to click on the 'check now' button to update the firmware. Or, perhaps a bit more precisely, the screen status changed from 'last checked date' to 'checking for updates,' but then just remained in that state for more than 20 minutes.

After two additional attempts, we went to Sony's electronic support site and found the. Turns out there's no way to manually update the firmware on our NSZ-GS7 test unit, at least according to the support website. Due to the fact that clicking the 'check now' button on the firmware update page resulted in twenty minutes of watching the screen prompt showing 'checking for updates' with no results, we figured Sony might have a USB workaround for upgrading the unit's firmware. The site's troubleshooting notes that 'This update is only available directly through the NSZ-GS7 Network Media Player.' What about USB? 'It is not possible to download and install this update using a USB device.' We even tried accessing the firmware update support page directly on the NSZ-GS7 built-in Chrome web browser.

No luck, as the 'download' button just routes the user to an explanation on how to set up network access on the Google TV unit, and that the update could either by manually requestion (as we'd done) or allowed to automatically occur. So we waited.

We waited some more. We turned off the Sony NSZ-GS7, waited a few minutes for good measure, and then turned it back on. Then we waited. And watched some Netflix. And waited some more. About thirty minutes later, a prompt on the screen said that an update was available. Maybe it's like adage about watching a kettle: ignore it and something finally happens.

So we let the NSZ-GS7 do its thing, upgrading the firmware. Once it completed and the unit rebooted, we were glad to see that the Media Player was no longer was grayed out or described as 'coming soon,' but instead was a working app. Still no DLNA Support Remember the Google TV Hangout mentioned above? The one that said the Media Player app would work and that DLNA support would be enabled? Turns out that's only half true. The firmware update (20120724URSCS67254) does enable the Media Player app but still does not support DLNA. A note on the Sony firmware page states: 'The Media player application only supports local contents (Internal Memory and USB).

This application is not supported using DLNA technology.' Now we understood a bit more about why Tony, the Sony representative on the Google TV Hangout, stated that Plex was installed. 'Until that happens'—referring to the firmware update that was supposed to provide both Media Player app and DLNA support—'one of the pre-installed apps, Plex, will provide local media support, if you set up your Plex media server.' You can't miss Plex, as it's the first prompt on the screen when the NSZ-GS7 is launched, prodding you to set up your Plex server. What's a Plex server?

We were a bit befuddled, too, and then found it was a media server that lets one view content locally. Except it's limited by the fact that it requires the user to run a separate Mac or Windows machine. Plex doesn't support the basic network attached storage (NAS) that many users find the Google TV well suited for—besides watching Netflix and YouTube videos on their 55' LED TV. Not a good thing. So we dragged out a few older USB flash drives, formatted them to FAT32—the only formatting that the Sony NSZ-GS7 supports.

The FAT32 limitation means that ExFAT formatting doesn't work on the NSZ-GS7, so files larger than 4GB, such as bit-for-bit DVD transfers aren't supported. Which is why DLNA is needed in the first place. The one positive note, after the firmware upgrade, was that we were able to confirm the unit was able to play back MPEG-2 content, something the original Sony NSZ-GT1 could do but the Logitech Revue could not. Not Ready for Prime Time The Sony NSZ-GS7 is a work in progress, not yet ready for prime time. While Sony supports the widest range of codecs of any Google TV unit on the market today, the NSZ-GS7 still lacks the basic functionality of the much older Sony NSZ-GT1. It's a mystery why Sony chose to release the NSZ-GS7 before it had even basic local functionality, and we hope Sony will rapidly rectify this situation.

At twice the price of competing products like the new Visio Co Star, Sony has a tough game ahead.