I wold be grateful if anyone could tell me how to find out what software version i have in the TV.  The TV is 4 months old but i would like to check to see if i have the latest 5.04 on installed.  Many thanks in advance.

Go to the service menu -> Monitor Information -> AP SW05.08a (I didn't realise I had 5.08!)

BTW, please don't worry about sw updates unless you're experiencing problems with your BV7. From my experience they cause more hassle and your dealer probably won't update it for free anyhow, just for the sake of a minor sw update.

How do you get to the service menu.  Have tried to search for this info on the site but cannot find it.

Thanks Again.

Press MENU -  navigate to OPTIONS - press 0 - 0 - GO.

Stefan

Thanks Stefan and Moxxey.  I have 5.04 on my TV.  What are the differences between mine and the latest 5.08 not that i need it.

Carl Sheerman:

Thanks Stefan and Moxxey.  I have 5.04 on my TV.  What are the differences between mine and the latest 5.08 not that i need it.

I don't know (although someone should have that info). Before 5.08, I had 5.00 installed and had problems with Sky HD with a link room TV. I think 5.04 fixed that though.

The following problems are fixed with software version 5.08:-

• TV switches off, if two-way IR products are used in the same room.
• Speaker mode changes when changing channel, seen on DVB-HD and external STB
• Clicking noise from centre/front speaker when changing channel on an external set-top box connected by HDMI/SPDIF, after updating to software version 5.02
• No video on built-in DVD after software update 5.02 (US version only)
• Not possible to change Region code on DVD
• Switching to built-in DVB-T/S picture format is locked to format 3, until the next time the channel is changed.
• From standby, picture format from internal DVB module cannot be changed. Locked to last shown format from before standby.
• If DVD loader is opened twice in standby, it might take up to three attempts to play a DVD when selected
• STB connected via HDMI is not always switched off.
• STB connected with HDMI and SCART/CVBS cannot be controlled in a link room if main room TV is switched off
• Error message with SKY HD box in link room, if main room TV is switched off

Carl Sheerman:

Thanks Stefan and Moxxey.  I have 5.04 on my TV.  What are the differences between mine and the latest 5.08 not that i need it.

I have just checked mine and noticed that I have 03.50a! It has never been updated since purchase. Should I get it done? There are some horrible thick dark blue vertical lines that appear on the left and the right hand side of the screen when watching certain Sky channels such as Bravo, Living, Virgin and UK Gold. Would a software update help rectifiy this problem or could it be hardware related? It was behaving like this before Sky updated their EPG system - the dealer already asked me this. We seem to be at a loss as to what it is.

Simon.

The_Beonic_Man:

I have just checked mine and noticed that I have 03.50a! It has never been updated since purchase. Should I get it done? There are some horrible thick dark blue vertical lines that appear on the left and the right hand side of the screen when watching certain Sky channels such as Bravo, Living, Virgin and UK Gold. Would a software update help rectifiy this problem or could it be hardware related? It was behaving like this before Sky updated their EPG system - the dealer already asked me this. We seem to be at a loss as to what it is.

Simon.

You'll have to pay your dealer to send around an engineer to get the upgrade done. Because of this, I had to get an external independent B&O engineer, under warranty, which took a while to organise.

I get those same blue bars on my BV7-40 with sw 5.08. So, it's not a sw problem. I noticed them the other night when watching and old film on Living.

Well that can't be right Chris (re the blue lines) so we need to find an explanation as to the cause. You may well encounter the same problem with the new Mark IV. If you do, this would suggest that the Sky box may well be the problem. Any thoughts about cause to date? It can be quite annoying I find. They never go away.

Simon.

The clue as to the problem may be the part about watching 'an old film on living', it would suggest it's a broadcast or sky-box issue, and not a TV issue. The TV doesn't know the difference between two different movies, it just receives a digital video stream from the Sky box, processes it and displays it.

I'd agree with you Alex. It was the same on my old BV7-32. You also see those blue borders on Sky's Football First (but only on the match choices) through the red button, on a Saturday evening.

So what does that mean then? Should B&O release some kind of patch to fix this or should I accept the picture as it is?

Simon, it means that the broadcast or the Sky box are at 'fault'. The only reason it's happening is that the widescreen picture is not quite wide enough (and isn't 'letterbox'), which leaves small blue/dark borders around the left/right edges of the screen. For me, I rarely see this as I don't watch the broadcasts or channels - apart from Sky's Football First - that has this problem. It seems to be a lot of 80s shows.

It's not a B&O fault, I don't think. I guess there's no way of knowing, unless we can see another brand, side-by-side?

Correct, there's nothing B&O can really do, it's down to the broadcast signal.

I forgot that Faulty Towers: Re-Opened was on GOLD and am now having to watch it on GOLD+1. Bizarrely GOLD+1 has those blue bars that Simon mentioned....but not on the GOLD channel (which is still showing the same programme!).

Bizarre.

[EDIT] A quick Google search resulted in this:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1013958

Seems like it's a problem with the old Thompson boxes (which is the box I use).

They don't offer a solution as such though. One user suggests playing around with scart and rf leads, which I don't use.

The_Beonic_Man:

They don't offer a solution as such though. One user suggests playing around with scart and rf leads, which I don't use.

This is precisely the point - they don't use them.  The solution is changing the output on RF1 / SCART to 4:3L, and miraculously the blue bars become black on the HDMI output - which is basically completely unnoticeable.

Unfortunately for me, I use the SCART output to distribute to other link rooms - and this needs to be 16:9, so I can't use this fix.

Might borrow someone's Pace box and see if it has the same issue, and then upgrade the box.  The Thomson is a bit old, slow and noisy...