Home Theaters

Older players? Who are we kidding? It simply shows the pace at which some things move, and how things with electronic processors can be aged so quickly.

The titles causing problems are apparently from 20th Century Fox, including the latest installment of the Marvel Comics Fantastic Four saga,  The Rise of the Silver Surfer,

released just last week - problems already!   One thing you expect when buying a DVD…being able to watch it!

and ‘The Day After Tomorrow’.

The largest number of complaints are from owners of a second generation player from Samsung, the BD-P1200,

  and the owners are upset by this, to say the least. Citing the cost of the machine, the owners are not sure why expensive hardware did not have more protection against this apparent obsolescence. Remember also, that new firmware cannot be applied by a quick connection to the internet, like the Play Station 3.

The owners of the original dual-format LG player are having problems as well, but this seems to be less of a concern, as these machines already suffered compatibility problems on other fronts. Still, problems like this don’t make the average customer, considering a purchase of expensive and not-yet-completely-standardized equipment feel more comfortable.

Good news for Sony Play Station 3 owners,

  however, as there are firmware updates already available to remove any problem. This is not unexpected as Sony can’t really afford to alienate any PS3 customers with problems that could be perceived as something Sony should have anticipated.

Samsung and LG have committed to firmware updates that will fix all problems in the next few weeks.

Computer playback does not seem to have escaped the problem, as users of the PowerDVD software from Cyberlink have had their share of problems with playback. Upgrades for this are already available, although the upgrades don’t seem to address all of the problems encountered, making it a partial fix, which is irking many of the users.

The problems have not yet been positively identified, as there are several areas of the standard that could be causing difficulties. The current list of suspects includes the BD-J interactivity layer, and the BD+ copy protection scheme - or the interaction between the two.

Once again, copy protection problems rear their ugly head! Since it has been shown, in every circumstance of copy protection schemes used, that the protection will be defeated, it might make sense to adopt a softer stance on this - but the motion picture associations are not thinking clearly on this, alienating potential customers seems to be at the bottom of the list.

No final word is out, nor is any long time solution claimed yet. This is one of the things early technology adopters must expect. Caveat emptor.

-