A:AnswerYes, at first mine didn't either until I reprogrammed..it comes programmed for the cable but you have to reprogram it with the number for the tv. Now it will read both nos., one for the cable and one for the tv. Be sure you turn it off and on with the remote rather than manually.
A:AnswerI'm using it with a Toshiba TV and a Spectrum (Time Warner) cable box. I haven't used it with a Sony TV, but there are programming codes for Sony. (Plus a means of programming it without entering a code.) Sony TVs are much more popular than Toshiba; I doubt very much that there would be a problem.