How to Access the Sony Television Service Menu

While the remote control for your Sony television can be used to access and alter settings such as volume and picture control, a more advanced set of options can be found in the Service menu. This is the menu professional television technicians can use to alter advanced settings such as white balance and picture width. This menu offers a professional grade of control over settings for your Sony television.

Things You'll Need

• Sony remote control

Instructions

1. Turn your Sony television off. Check the back of your television. Sony models from the early 1990s incorporated a Service switch at the rear of the television, near the antenna or video-in jacks. If you find such a switch, hold it down while turning on power to the television to enter Service mode.

2. Turn on the television if you do not find Sony's Service switch. Take your remote control and input, within one second, the commands "Power," "Display," "Vol +," "5," "Power."

3. If these commands do not work with your Sony television, enter the commands "Power," "Display," "5," "Power." Remember that Service mode will not be activated unless the button are pushed within one second of each other.

Tips & Warnings

• When in Service mode, use the "1" and "4" keys to navigate between menu items, and "3" and "6" to adjust values up or down.

• Use "Mute" and "Enter" to save a new setting to the television's defaults. Use "0" followed by "Enter" to restore a value to its stored default, or "8" then "Enter" to reset to factory settings.

• To exit Service mode, press Power to turn the Sony television off. Note that values not saved with the "Mute" and "Enter" command will not be saved to the television's defaults.

• Note that these settings should only be altered by a qualified expert. Accidental input of the wrong code could render your TV inoperable.

• It is strongly advised to write down the settings of any parameters before changing them in Service mode. They may have been altered from their factory defaults before you used the television.

References

• KeohiHDTV: SONY Service Mode
• Riddle TV: Sony service menu code