still no firmware and i'm stuck with the version removed from the 64xxxx site
It'll take a week or two for it to make it across the Atlantic, maybe the firmware swims?
The package is available for download and manual flashing on the Sony US website, but I'd say just wait for it to be made available OTA in Europe.
Must be a Shield addition by Nvidia, Android/Google TV didn't have it natively until version 12.
Ah, perhaps we're thinking of slightly different things.
Automatic framerate matching is only in "beta" even on the Shield (because it's running Android 11) and from what I've heard it's not all that reliable.
I was referring to giving apps the ability to change the framerate if they can, instead of locking it down. The Shield (and, presumably, other Android TV devices) allow this, while the A95K does not.
On the Shield, Kodi and Plex (which I've used, there may be others) will switch the framerate on their own to match the content, but other apps like Neflix, Disney+ etc do not because the developers cannot be bothered to add the functionality.
One other thing:
It's been mentioned in relation to the Rtings "burn-in" findings that Sony TV only run their comp cycles after being in sleep mode for four hours:
We know from our original soft-launch period that LG and Sony TVs implement the small compensation cycle differently. They both run it after four hours of total use once the TV is in standby mode, but while LG TVs run the cycle immediately after putting the TV into standby mode, Sony TVs only do so once the TV has been in standby mode for another four hours.
But that does not fit in with what I'm seeing on the A95K. Once the set reaches 4h of screen-on time, as soon as it goes into stand-by it will run the comp cycle. Just like Panasonics do, only they have their screen-on time threshold set to 3h.
I've confirmed this initially by the behaviour of the AVR which would go to sleep together with the TV but then, if a comp cycle was being executed, when it finished the AVR would wake up briefly at the end of the run and go back to sleep a few seconds later.
Yesterday I slapped a bias light strip on the TV and hooked it up. Turned on the TV to give it power, adjust the strength of the lighting then switched off the TV a few minutes later. It hand't reached a total of 4h screen-on time, so it didn't run a comp cyle: the AVR did not turn on later, nor did the strip stay on.
In the evening I watched a film (Zulu on Blu-ray, a good disc transfer which looks mighty fine on the A95K btw) and by the time it ended the TV had accumulated those 4h of screen-on time required to trigger the comp cycle.
And sure enough, when I put it in stand-by, the lighting strip stayed turned on for the duration of the cycle, then when it ended the AVR also turned on for a bit (as usual in this case), and finally both the AVR and strip turned off at the end of the comp cycle run.
That's exactly how the Panasonics behave with the light strip, except those did not turn on the AVR at the end. Not sure why the Sony does that, but it's not much of a bother.
With the Panny you know it is running a cycle because of the colour of its LED status light, too bad Sony didn't think of including something similar.
Oh and there's one more finding (from others, not me as I haven't measured this) that confirms the running of comp cycles: the power consumption right after stand-by while the cycle is executed is higher (~50W I believe), then it goes down to almost nothing when the cycle completes. Again, this was noted immediately after putting the TV in stand-by, not 4h later...