Peter D Posted March 21, 2007 Posted March 21, 2007 Nine freezes on LG TVAsher Moses March 20, 2007 - 3:15PM Television manufacturer LG has failed to determine the source of a glitch in some of its televisions, which caused them to freeze when screening Nine Network's programs, despite being notified of the problem three weeks ago. The manufacturer said 10 models in its television range were affected, but that as far as it was aware, the problem only occurred in Sydney and Melbourne. Several readers - responding to this story - have reported the problem in other cities, including Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth and regional centres in New South Wales and Victoria. Readers also reported the issue was not limited to Nine's programs, but LG's marketing manager, Darren Goble, said that these could be unrelated issues caused by a number of factors outside of LG's control including "reception, locality and external factors". A statement released by LG yesterday morning said "LG has become aware that occasional 'freezing' problems were experienced with selected TVs when viewing particular network digital programming in metropolitan Melbourne and Sydney over the weekend". It did not specify which programs, but a large number of readers have reported experiencing the glitch when watching CSI on Sunday night. But upon further questioning an LG spokeswoman admitted "LG became aware of of the issue three weeks ago, [but] did not have any data streaming recorded and therefore were unable to trace the problem". Goble said LG was evaluating the issue to determine its cause, and hoped to be able to provide a solution "by the end of today or early tomorrow morning". It had narrowed the problem down to the following television models: 32LC2D, 37LC2D, 42LC2D, 42LC2DR, 42PC1DV, 42PC1DG, 50PC1D, 50PC3D, 50PB2DR and 60PC1D. A full recall of the affected models has not been ruled out, but Goble said a more likely fix would be a software upgrade. When asked if all or only certain Nine programs were affected, the LG spokeswoman said: "I am not sure which programs, I don't think [it was] particular shows." She would not speculate why the issue appeared to only affect televisions produced by LG, but said "it seems that other manufacturers have also been affected". However, there have as yet been no reports of the issue occurring in TV models produced by manufacturers other than LG. This was confirmed by a Nine spokeswoman: "Nine is not receiving complaints from customers owning any of the other 2.2 million digital TV receivers - it appears to be just this particular LG series of integrated LCD TV." A Melbourne newspaper first reported the glitch on February 26, saying LG had blamed it on Nine. But in yesterday's statement LG appeared to have changed its story: "This glitch is software related, with either the digital transmission stream, or the decoding of that stream affecting the television's operation." LG said customers experiencing problems should unplug their TV at the power socket, before plugging it back in and trying to view the programs again. LG's customer service centre can be reached on 1800 643 156.
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