The microphone feature on my Sony Bravia (KD-49X8000H) remote has stopped working

[HarryC]

I press the microphone button on the remote control and nothing happens. I can't find a specific thing in settings to turn it back on, or turn it on/off at all. Edit: I have just now noticed that every other button on the remote when pressed causes the light on the bottom of the TV to flash, but the microphone one does not. Has to be a hardware thing I think. Thanks all for replies

 

[Dannydet]

Contact Sony or the store you bought it from.
The button itself may be faulty, broken.
That's a hardware issue

 

[ocnbrze]

yep hardware issue.....time to replace the remote.

 

[nickdalzell]

How old is this TV? I ask because it's possible the feature got deprecated, as i'm seeing a 'Google play Movies' button and that hasn't been a thing in a while. I got an old LG Smart TV in storage that's one of their first WebOS smart TVs but its mic feature no longer works either, like a lot of the apps. The last Sony Bravia I ever saw was so old it had the PlayStation Xcross Media bar as a UI. I didn't think they even made them anymore. Everything around here is Roku TV, TCL, VIZIO, LG and Samsung.

 

[The_Chief]

I'm sure you put known good batteries in it... you may go to the TV's settings, remove that remote and then add it again. If that fails, then yes: electronics go bad. Get a replacement.

 

[HarryC]

I'm sure you put known good batteries in it... you may go to the TV's settings, remove that remote and then add it again. If that fails, then yes: electronics go bad. Get a replacement.

I have just now noticed that every other button on the remote when pressed causes the light on the bottom of the TV to flash, but the microphone one does not. Has to be a hardware thing I think.

 

[The_Chief]

I actually had this exact same problem, with our Sony Bravia. Here's how I fixed it: ensure the microphone is enabled.

On your TV remote go to Settings; then Accounts; over to the Gmail account you have on the TV; and ensure Google TV is ENABLED. On ours, it wasn't... as soon as I enabled that and backed out to the home screen, the microphone worked.

 

[nickdalzell]

Just came across a rear projection big screen Sony Wega at the vendor mall, priced for $20. Said it was working but couldn't test it, and it's far too huge for me to even bother with attempting to lug it out, much less any interest in fitting this giant thing into my home. I didn't know any rear projection TVs had survived and figured they were all extinct! It has a date code of 2005, is all clad in that 'futuristic' silver plastic, and even had HDMI.

My only experience with rear projection TVs was at Risley's Electronics in the 80s, or at a rich neighbor's home (When c-band satellite was the next big thing). Those behemoths got horribly milky pictures even sitting directly in front of them, and forget about sitting at an angle. Who'd even bother with one today? I'm surprised there was a home (likely demolished and the TV scavenged) that was still using one!