Oh, hell, I'm sorry. I was being funny, I thought.

I was also remembering the A/V dealer client whose store we were wiring, who was bugging us to make something play. This is ridiculous when wiring a store because it only makes sense to wire ALL the sources, then ALL the receivers, etc.

He asked us where we were going to put the switcher for the speakers and my buddy said "it'll go here" and put a fist through the drywall right in that spot. Client silently turned and walked away, not bothering us any more.

I was referring to the 2018 models.
2017 models had the one connect box.

This can be seen at [Link: samsung.com].

I just had a 20 minute chat with Samsung's P. Abhishek, who told me with a reasonable attitude, after a reasonable amount of research time, that:


And I found this at [Link: techradar.com]:

That is likely the case.

and now you suffer from android crashes with warnings you can't get off the screen without hard rebooting the TV.

Out of all the Sony's I've done since they started the Android OS, I have only had that happen 2x and that was while I was setting up the TVs. Extremely rare.

Recently had a project with the Samsung 7 and 8 series. I used the Chief PAC526, and PAC525 back boxes. worked like a charm. All of the connect boxes go in them.
if you use the Samsung "No-Gap" hanging mount, it looks absolutely awesome, like a piece of art hanging on the wall with absolutely zero gap.

no, but they make back panel contoured.

How many have you installed? The 84 is way more prone to it. Every single 84 we have installed (6) has had this happen multiple times. All client interactions so that is a fun email at 10pm. "I have this blue box on the screen i can't get rid of says "Unfortunately, TvDotActionDeviceControl has stopped." or "Google Play services has stopped." or "Program Guide isn't responding. Do you want to restart it." Only way to get rid of some of them is unplug for 3-4 minutes. Each one has had it happen anywhere from 2 - 4 times. have seen it randomly on smaller Sonys. We probably have 60+ in the field seeing it with at least 20% of them out there.

I'd love for the ability to just shut off all the extra stuff. There is a pro mode we've found that seems to disable a good portion of the apps.

I have never done any of the 84".
But all sizes from 40-75" and series from 700's, 800's, 900's, and Z series.
Not a huge volume, maybe 1-2 dozen a year.

As mentioned, I have had it happen before but it was always when setting up the TV and kind of rare; 2x I can remember off the top of my head - there may have been a few more I don't remember. Once I got everything updated and settings locked, I have never had a problem with any of the Android OS Sony's. At least no customer has ever called me about it and I would think they would.

Maybe people have gotten so use to everything locking up these days and having to reboot it, they just think it is par-for-course. And just deal with it and not call me about it. But I'm pretty sure 'most' of my customers would not let it go by without calling and asking.

I prefer it over the LG and Sony I see, where the bottom 1/3 is snug to the wall and top 2/3 has a goofy gap.

Agreed

I'm not saying the goofy gap isn't goofy, it is.
But considering you have to be looking from the side to even notice it... That certainly would be one of the 'last' things that influenced my decision on using a TV.

The thing that concerns me more about that (and has been expressed by everyone else too), is the manufacture making the TVs so thin, they have no support for the screen whatsoever. Taco'ing the TV as it has been called.
I was just on a service call yesterday, Samsung QLED 7 with the connect box. Was on an articulating mount. I started to pull it out from the wall above the fireplace, when I had to pull kind of hard and I felt the TV starting to flex. Had to grab it in the middle to pull out and that caused the tilt mechanism to move from where the customer had it. It was all a trap. After diagnosing the connect box was toast (hit by lighting - no surge protection - I didn't do the install), it took some time to slowly finesse the TV back into position without breaking the damn thing. Just stupid.
A long list of stupid things from all the TV manufacture, that we have to put up with these days. Just makes no sense, they are all sadist!

Its a disaster waiting to happen with these super thin TV's on articulating mounts.

Dont let any surge protection box manufacturer make you believe all devices are protected from lighting strikes. its a lie.

FYI Sony 2018 sets (850F, 900F) are an even thickness top to bottom on the back, with a gentle thinning tapper as it comes to the edges for an illusion of being more skinny than it is when viewed in profile. I'd say they learned and listened. Work very well on an arm.

[Link: sony.com]