Many modern networked entertainment devices have the ability to play streaming music even in standby mode. This so-called “networked standby” is very useful when you don't want Christmas lights or a TV and just want some quiet music. This is particularly puzzling because it was a feature (Caramelfur) that was missing from Sony AV receivers, but was included in the US market equivalents of the European models. Then, with a bit of hacking, the receivers followed suit with the US versions.
An initial look at the firmware revealed that the two downloads were identical, so if there was a difference it must be some kind of configuration. Investigating what was exposed on the network we found a web server with the device configuration parameters. After some behind the scenes research and a bit of luck and guesswork we identified the endpoint that turns on network standby, and there we found the same one as in the US market model. If you need it the tool is in the GitHub repository.
This isn't the first time that identical hardware has been shipped in Europe with different firmware than in the US. Perhaps the most egregious example is Motorola phones with a fairly old version of Android for Europe. I don't understand why a manufacturer would do this, especially for such an innocuous feature as network standby. If you have a Sony receiver, you can fix this, but you don't have to.
RJ45, Devcore, CC0.
