Sony has admitted a faulty batch of Bravia-branded LCD and rear-projection TVs has made it into the wild. Around 400,000 sets may carry a software bug that could prevent them from being turned off after a cumulative 1,200 hours in stand-by mode. The TVs won't switch out of stand-by mode at that point, either.

Sony said affected sets had been sold into the US, Japan, and China, according to Reuters and other news outlets today. The company promised to provide an over-the-air fix for models equipped with digital TV receivers, but analog sets will require on-site upgrades, it admitted.

The consumer electronics giant did not say how much it will cost to right the problem. ®