X70 4k Upgrade - The Install

[Atticus Lake]

For the folks who are thinking about getting the 4k upgrade for the X70 camera, here's a quick walkthrough of the surprisingly complicated process of getting and installing it. Hopefully this will help people to decide whether it's something they want, or maybe help them to get through the install process if they do.

This is hopefully going to be followed by some tests of the new 4k mode in action. I'm planning to test detail, moire/aliasing, high-motion content, and gradability... any other suggestions welcome.

Sony x70 4k Upgrade Install on Vimeo

[Peter Wright]

I'm still waiting for my securely packaged piece of paper (didn't realise Sony had such a zany sense of humour) but thanks for the tips Atticus Lake.

[David Dixon]

Except that...

On a Mac, you are not given a way to create the user account (tried both Safari and Firefox) - you must either email Sony or call them instead of starting online. I emailed them Friday night and got a call from them early afternoon the next business day. I told him about the web site issues and he said "Yeah, forget the web site." He verified my serial number, emailed my Install Key and I was fine. One more thing, as noted in the video (thanks Atticus), throughout the process when they ask for numbers it sometimes means *upgrade* info and numbers, and sometimes they want the *device* (camera) info and numbers.

[Atticus Lake]

Holy freaking cow.... seriously???? I can't believe how backwards their web site is. I run a pretty complex web site and to me, this stuff just isn't as hard as they're making it. It was, in the '90s, but not now. I mean, having a home page covered with warnings on how to use it in different browsers... instead of just making it work... LAME!!!

Anyhow, I'm glad you got it worked out!

[Robert Bale]

Originally Posted by Peter Wright

I'm still waiting for my securely packaged piece of paper (didn't realise Sony had such a zany sense of humour) but thanks for the tips Atticus Lake.

Hey, did you order it in Australia, and find a cash back offer .?

[Rob Cantwell]

hilarious!

I presume it's that complex to deter pirating. If not thats a lot of hoops to jump through eh?

I was going to buy a X70 but the paid upgrade sort of put me off so I went for the AX100 instead. That rigamarole isn't a good selling point either huh?

[James R. Wilson Sr.]

After spending the better part of the afternoon attempting to decipher Sony's sense of humor, I have lost mine. I gave up trying to navigate the ridiculous website (hadn't seen The post from Atticus), I emailed Sony a few days ago and they sent me a reply that claims to have my install code, upgrade file and instructions. the install key is a 30 kb Unix file that seems to do nothing, I do not see an upgrade file. I have copied this Unix file to the SD card but the camera tells me that there is no file. This routine has been performed about six times to no avail. Sony is way too busy to talk to me, they wil call me back.

I thought the 12 x 12 box that contained a 2x3 box, that contained two sheets of paper was a joke, seems it was just the beginning! I don't know if my email doesn't contain the upgrade file ad that's why it doesn't work, or what, but Sony is not telling, I know that.

[Cliff Totten]

That's odd....well? My online experience went fast and flawless.

Took me 2 minutes to plug in the numbers and send. I got the emails from Sony literally 10 minutes after I finished on the web.

When copying it down to your computer. Be careful not to change anything about the file. It's tint with no extension on it. Make sure that when you save it from the email that your browser doesn't put a (1) at the end of it. I saved it twice in my folder and Chrome gave the second one a modified file name.

Make sure the file is in the root of your SDXC card too. Not in another folder.

My upgrade file was 1kb....much much MUCH smaller than yours. My file literally contains 29 ASCII characters in it on a single line.

If your file is 30KB,...that's MUCH larger than mine.

Open your file with notepad....what do you see?

[Peter Wright]

Originally Posted by Robert Bale

Hey, did you order it in Australia, and find a cash back offer .?

Somehow Sony convert US$500 to A$750 instead of A$675, but the Sony dealers in Perth, who I recently spent a fair bit of money with, discounted it to $678. then added GST so it was $745.80.

I'm hoping it will be a really impressive piece of paper,

[Atticus Lake]

Originally Posted by James R. Wilson Sr.

... they sent me a reply that claims to have my install code, upgrade file and instructions. the install key is a 30 kb Unix file that seems to do nothing,

Sorry to hear about your experience. The upgrade key you are looking for is a file of 30 bytes -- not kB. Its name is something like

CBKZ-X70FXINSTALLKEY_20150707112345678

with no extension. That file needs to be copied to the root of your SD card with no modification at all, no filename extension, nothing. Then the SD card goes in slot A.

They will probably also send you a PDF file, which you should keep for your records, but it's otherwise not needed.

Hope that helps....

[James R. Wilson Sr.]

Thanks Guys! That is an accurate description of the file that they sent me. I formatted the A slot SD in my camera, copied the file from the email to the SD (it showed up above the "Private" folder, removed the SD, put it in the X70, went through the steps to the install, but it tells me that there's no file.

I thought it was pretty straight forward, but I'm obviously missing something.

[James R. Wilson Sr.]

The file looks like this in the email:

[James R. Wilson Sr.]

And this on the SD:

[Robert Young]

Be absolutely sure that the purchase key and the camera unique device ID were entered correctly on the website install key request form.
It's been reported that if there is an error in the camera ID number, they will still send you an install key, but it simply won't work.

[James R. Wilson Sr.]

Thanks Robert. Maybe that's it. I went the Sony email route with the serial number and that was what they replied with. I'm probably stuck now, I would imagine that you get one bite at the apple.