I watched it again, but I paused it at 28:45 and then used fast forward 1 0seconds to get past it with no glitches. I didn't want to find out if it would freeze a 3rd time.

Though, one of those random glitches happened before the 28 mark, where the movie stuttered for 2 seconds, then went away.

Well i got my copy from Amazon.com and finally watched it tonight. Watched the film on my HD-A1, Update 2.0, HDMI video connection and in TrueHD using analog outs. I had not one problem at all during my viewing of the film.

Got my replacement copy of Happy Feet this past Friday from Amazon(same place I got the original).

On my A1, it locked up at the same 28:49 mark as the original copy of Happy Feet.

Contacted Amazon. They've been very helpful. They said that the problem is more widespread than they originally thought and would not send another replacement. I don't blame them, I wouldn't either.

They're going to refund without any problems.

Do wish I could get a copy that would play without freezing.

The problem is the disc, not the player or the firmware version:
Mine came this week direct from the Warner Brothers store. Same problem.
John

A2 1.2 w/ Scratched Blockbuster Rentals

Happy Feet - No problems
Good Shepard - No problems
CoM - 1 freeze but was able to fwd threw

The problem is the disc, not the player or the firmware version:
Mine came this week direct from the Warner Brothers store. Same problem.
John

Does it matter? The bottom line is the same, right? :(

Watched it for the first time last night from beginning to end. The disc was from Amazon and played on my Xbox 360 HD DVD player. It played...perfect! :D

Got the disc last week from Warner direct, running A1 w/ version 2.0 firmware. Disc played perfectly start-to-finish over HDMI and TrueHD over analog outs.

valkyrie,

Do you have a link to where I can order a copy from Warner Direct? I think I found their website, but can't find the actual HD-DVD.

valkyrie,

Do you have a link to where I can order a copy from Warner Direct? I think I found their website, but can't find the actual HD-DVD.

Sure, no problem, here's the link. Or, if you want a watched-once version that plays perfect on a A1, drop me a note.

http://whv.warnerbros.com/WHVPORTAL/Portal/product.jsp?OID=18889

Since I have a 4 yr replacement warranty on the HD-A1 I might go back to BBuy and ask for a new unit ... they will have to supply a XA2 since I want the analog outs.

k

Good luck with that.

XA2 w/original firmware (ie not updated to 1.3 or 1.5)...no problems with the Happy Feet HD-DVD to Mits HD1000U fp.

Regards,
Ricky

I e-mailed Warner on April 4th about my problem with this disk and have yet to hear back from them. :(

HD-A1 with 2.0 fw.

I get 2 audio dropouts with True HD enabled. I didn't note where it happened though, but I remembered the first one happened in the same place.

With DD+ enabled, it played flawlessly.

I e-mailed Warner on April 4th about my problem with this disk and have yet to hear back from them. :(

Received a letter with a prepaid shipping label so that I can send them my disk for a "good" one. Never did receive an e-mail. :)

So, I bought HF on the buy dvds from amazon day. I have the freezing issue at the swimming scene. Is it better to rma to amazon for another copy or contact warner?

Adam

edit:spelling error.

atagert,

I got two of them from Amazon that froze at 28:49. Returned both of them. You might try a second one on the outside chance that you'll get one that works. You never know.

Lets recap this. For those that have the freeze issue at 28 or so minutes, repost saying yes and the player and firmware. And to those that didn't, say no and your player and firmware. This way maybe we'll know if it's an issue mainly with HD-A1 or happens on all players. It can't be dust or speckles if it has happened to more than one of us at the exact moment.


I recently upgraded to v2.1 FW on my A1 and ran into this problem. It is repeatable and happens at the same spot after several attempts although I was able to skip past it by fast forwarding and then hitting play. My A1 has been relatively trouble free and this is the first disc I've run into that has a repeatable problem.

If its of any interest to anyone, I'm getting the copy of Happy Feet that didn't freeze for another member who also has an A1. On my A1, I've returned two copies of Happy Feet for freezing on 28:49. Hopefully, we can find out if this is entirely a disk problem or a player problem (or maybe a combination of the two).

Much as I hate to cave in to anyone or anything, but I had the 28:44 blues until I washed the disc with dish soap and warm water. I've replayed it at the frame of death a number of times, no problem.

O.K., who wants to be the first one to boil their copy of Happy Feet??

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=832971

I've watched Happy Feet at least 4 times, start to finish, with no problems. Don't know what the deal is. XA1

atagert,

I got two of them from Amazon that froze at 28:49. Returned both of them. You might try a second one on the outside chance that you'll get one that works. You never know.


JimP, thanks for the info. I think I'll go the warner route.

Adam

I've got the RCA with Toshiba ver 2.0 software. The first time through no glitch at all. The second time through with the in-laws watching it glitched in the swimming scene.

Opened the tray. Closed it and replayed it with no problems.

Very strange.

This freezing problem on Happy Feet may be in part player related.

I purchased a 3rd copy of Happy Feet that played without freezing from someone on this thread. Received it today. Froze in exactly the same spot the two copies from Amazon did. I have a A1.

I also ran over to Best Buy to get the Maxwell DVD lens cleaner. Basically a DVD with what looks like a small eyelash on the bottom that knocks dust off the laser lens. That didn't help either.

One thing I did differently this time is when the disc froze at 28:49, I just left it alone instead of punching buttons. After exactly 30 seconds, it started playing again.

Would someone else with an A1 with the freeze at 28:49 please get to the freeze point and just leave it alone and see if it moves on its own after 30 seconds.

Thanks

my replacement from WB freezes indefinitely at that spot.

Well, add one more to the list of people with problems. I watched my copy from the WB sale last night and had the freeze at 28:49 on an RCA player with FW 2.0.

Brett,

You might want to upgrade to 2.1. I don't think that'll fix this problem, but you never know.

i rented from bb online just one studder with the 360 addon.

Watched it last night on an XA1 with 2.1 with no problems at all. Liked it much better than I thought I would. :)

Would someone else with an A1 with the freeze at 28:49 please get to the freeze point and just leave it alone and see if it moves on its own after 30 seconds.

Thanks

This is what happens to my copy of Happy Feet. Except its 11 seconds and then it
starts right back up. No needing to pause, play, FF, etc. So I miss just 11 seconds of
the movie. I have firmware 2.1 by the way.

(Other than this disc, I have never had issues with any other HD DVD)

I posted this in the HD DVD player forum also, but for those of you having issues with this disc, try selecting the DVD option in the Twin Format Disc option menu. My Happy Feet disc wouldn't even load until I changed this option to DVD instead of HD DVD. After that it played through just fine, didn't even freeze at the 28:00-29:00 minute mark that everyone is talking about.

Can't hurt to try.


Selecting DVD for Twin Format Disc fixed my stuttering problem! Thanks AST :D

I am running XA2 (1.5 Firmware), TrueHD, HDMI audio/video

This freezing problem on Happy Feet may be in part player related.

I purchased a 3rd copy of Happy Feet that played without freezing from someone on this thread. Received it today. Froze in exactly the same spot the two copies from Amazon did. I have a A1.

I also ran over to Best Buy to get the Maxwell DVD lens cleaner. Basically a DVD with what looks like a small eyelash on the bottom that knocks dust off the laser lens. That didn't help either.

One thing I did differently this time is when the disc froze at 28:49, I just left it alone instead of punching buttons. After exactly 30 seconds, it started playing again.

Would someone else with an A1 with the freeze at 28:49 please get to the freeze point and just leave it alone and see if it moves on its own after 30 seconds.

Thanks

I'm not believing this. I played Happy Feet today and now when it gets to 28:49 it freezes and doesn't play through after 30 seconds. Now this is on a Disc that I bought from someone who didn't have the freeze problem. I think I'm taking the disc to Circuit City tomorrow and see if it'll play on another model player.

Watched Happy Feet last night with no problems at all on my A2 w/ 1.0 firmware. I have "DVD" selected in the dual menu if that makes any difference.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JimP
This freezing problem on Happy Feet may be in part player related.

I purchased a 3rd copy of Happy Feet that played without freezing from someone on this thread. Received it today. Froze in exactly the same spot the two copies from Amazon did. I have a A1.

One thing I did differently this time is when the disc froze at 28:49, I just left it alone instead of punching buttons. After exactly 30 seconds, it started playing again.

Would someone else with an A1 with the freeze at 28:49 please get to the freeze point and just leave it alone and see if it moves on its own after 30 seconds.

Thanks


UPDATE
I'm not believing this. I played Happy Feet today and now when it gets to 28:49 it freezes and doesn't play through after 30 seconds. Now this is on a Disc that I bought from someone who didn't have the freeze problem. I think I'm taking the disc to Circuit City tomorrow and see if it'll play on another model player.


Update................I took my copy of Happy Feet to the local Circuit City and it played fine through 28:49 on a A2. Smooth without the smallest hint of a stutter much less a freeze. I ran it twice to be sure that it wasn't a fluke. Got home and tried it again on my A1 and it froze.

I'm convinced that there is something on these HD-DVDs that plays fine on some players and freezes like crazy on others.

What is most perplexing to me is how when I first got this third copy, it would eventually play through the freeze spot and now it won't.

Rented Happy Feet from Blockbuster. It was a brand new disc, not rented prior to me. Played it on A1 firmware 2.0 and it froze at the 28:48 mark. Bought a copy from BB and it did the same thing. With firmware 2.1 same freeze and no startup except for rebooting. Wonder why washing would fix such a specific spot on the disc. Why would the player have a flaw that would pick the same spot on the disc to freeze? I just want to play this disc without all the BS!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will go back tomorrow.

Probably too late to matter after all these posts, but I got HF from Netflix today and watched it on A2/1.3 using HDMI and Dolby TrueHD. Perfect, no stutters, pauses, etc. PQ was absolutely some of the best I've seen yet on HD-DVD. Sound was terrific. Story could use improvement, but not too bad. Certainly a little dark/scary for kids, but generally good. It's one I would definitely use for an HD demo in PQ and AQ. BTW, it was a double-sided disc (didn't play the SD side).

Played Happy Feet without any problems. This being a Netflix rental on a D1 with firmware 2.1.

...true HD enabled? I, without fail, can get the disc to barf at the 28ish minute mark (bird swoops down to steal fish from Mumble, they clear the water, and -hiccup-). True-HD off it does it very intermittantly.

As the -entire- reason I bought it on HD and not BD was for the TrueHD soundtrack, you'll appreciate this continues to annoy. FWIW, I'm on my 3rd copy of the disc, from two different retailers... A1, FW 2.1

Any A1 owners try it on 2.2 that just came out today?

Any A1 owners try it on 2.2 that just came out today?
A new one came out today?

tosh a1 player with one update from long ago. happy feet played flawlessly.

I have had the same problem as reported by others. At about the 28 minute mark when Mumble goes to chase the fish after the bird stole it. I have firmware 2.1 on the HD-A1 and TrueHD is enabled. Hopefully this gets corrected.

FW 2.2 doesn't help playing HF on my machine. This is the only title I have problem with.

Didn't help on my A1 either.

Happy Feet is the only title of the 32 I have (including Children of Men) that freezes on me. With DD+, it pauses but does resume after some time (typically about 20 seconds or so later). With Dolby TrueHD, it freezes my machine, requiring me to unplug and replug to restore. The rest of the movie plays flawlessly.

Interesting that so many people have the problem at the exact same spot, and that TrueHD is worse. Yet, some have no problem. Weird.

Some have said this is where a layer change is. Perhaps a combination of the layer change and some player's disc read ability is the culprit?

i update fw 2.2 ,but i have the same probleme with happy feet (28 minutes) to bad .

I have an A1 and with 2.0 I got a hard lock at the 28:50 mark that everyone's having a problem with. With 2.1 and 2.2 it still glitches momentarily at that spot but it ends up playing through it and not freezing (even with TrueHD). That's the only issue for the entire film.

HD-D1 (A1; except from Wal-Mart) with 2.0 firmware. Freezed at the same point as everyone else has reported. Running HDMI with TrueHD. Rest of the movie played fine.

Has anyone been sucessful getting the studio to replace their copy of Happy Feet with one that will play on their player?

I received the studio replacement last week. Same problem.

Something other than the usual freeze problem. I have a color problem, might be my
TV, but I'm asking here since you all have the movie and different tvs so you can tell
me if you notice this green color on the penguins:

http://premium1.uploadit.org/TimothyB/happy_001.jpg


http://premium1.uploadit.org/TimothyB/happy_002.jpg


http://premium1.uploadit.org/TimothyB/happy_003.jpg


I just got this new Sony 60A2020 tv that's great. I had a Sony 55xs955 LCD RP
before this, and a Toshiba DLP I just returned and both those I never noticed the
green around the yellow, or it was so suddle it I never took note of it. Can anyone
take a closer look to see if it's there on other tvs, just not as pronounced as it
seems on my tv?

I'll check to see if some sony setting is messing it up. Like "Live Color", but my other Sony always had that on.

FW 2.2 did not fix the 28' freeze on HF on my RCA (A1 clone), although COM went from unplayable to perfect with the new firmware.

Something other than the usual freeze problem. I have a color problem, might be my
TV, but I'm asking here since you all have the movie and different tvs so you can tell
me if you notice this green color on the penguins:

[IMG]http://premium1.uploadit.org/TimothyB/happy_001.jpg[IMG]


[IMG]http://premium1.uploadit.org/TimothyB/happy_002.jpg[IMG]


[IMG]http://premium1.uploadit.org/TimothyB/happy_003.jpg[IMG]


I just got this new Sony 60A2020 tv that's great. I had a Sony 55xs955 LCD RP
before this, and a Toshiba DLP I just returned and both those I never noticed the
green around the yellow, or it was so suddle it I never took note of it. Can anyone
take a closer look to see if it's there on other tvs, just not as pronounced as it
seems on my tv?

I'll check to see if some sony setting is messing it up. Like "Live Color", but my other Sony always had that on.

Well, I checked the Live Color and that seemed to be what was causing the neon green. Though, it wasn't in everyshot. Like the opeing Kiss song it wasn't there until the shot where Memphis starts singing.

I played HF for my family a few nights ago on my XA2. No problems. In fact, I have had no problems with ANY HD DVD discs on this player.......

Maybe I'm just lucky........?

my son has watched it 10 times and no lockups ive watched it like 5 times and watching it rigt now, no skips or anything....

Well, I checked the Live Color and that seemed to be what was causing the neon green. Though, it wasn't in everyshot. Like the opeing Kiss song it wasn't there until the shot where Memphis starts singing.
should get your set isf calibrated...

Add me to the list of people who's Xa1 freezes / locks up at 28mins on Happy Feet.
I just got the movie this past week from Amazon. :(

I just had to eject the disk.
Just a shame.. looked great up till that point.

try the following:

1. update FW to 2.2
2. clear Persistent Storage
3. shutdown player
4. unplug player
5. press power on player (yes, AFTER unplugging)
6. wait for about 1 minute
7. re-plug power
8. restart player and play the disc.

My disc problem solved forever after doing the above sequence.

Something other than the usual freeze problem. I have a color problem, might be my
TV, but I'm asking here since you all have the movie and different tvs so you can tell
me if you notice this green color on the penguins:

http://premium1.uploadit.org/TimothyB/happy_001.jpg


http://premium1.uploadit.org/TimothyB/happy_002.jpg


http://premium1.uploadit.org/TimothyB/happy_003.jpg



Definitely a display calibration problem. Too much red and green on the screen. Doesn't show that on my ISF calibrated display.

Definitely a display calibration problem. Too much red and green on the screen. Doesn't show that on my ISF calibrated display.

When I turned off Sony's "Live Color" that's designed to make the colors more vivid the problem went away. I didn't think to check it at first since my previous Sony didn't do that with Live Color, it just effected mainly blues and a bit of green, but now the new sony effects almost all colors so I disable it.

Ah, nice to see this thread trudging along. As the MS HD-DVD event in Toronto I brought out my Happy Feet disc just for fun. Played flawlessly through Ch 8.

Bastards.


Anyhoo, as I indicated above, here's my surefire recipe to have this problem show up:

1) Power off, clear persistant memory, do whatever the heck you want to the player to clear it.
2) Insert disc. Select chapter 8. Select TrueHD (the problem is -not- evident on my system with the DD soundtrack)
3) Play through the chapter - as mumble is about to clear the water, I'll get a pause of about a second. The timer does -not- keep counting, and the picture continues after a moment.

Factoid one: The problem will -not- reoccur if I rewind the same scene and watch it again. It seems only the first time through that it barfs.
Factoid two: As I indicated on this thread and the FW2.2 one, the first total deathcrash of my A1 was with this title - only once, from a clean boot, the disc froze at the 28:47 mark and then the timer continued after a sec, with NO change in picture (frozen on screen) or reemergence of audio.

For me this disc is an interesting case, as it's the only one I have that I can consistantly force the player into behaving the way it does intermittently with other discs, especially, it seems, discs with TrueHD. I've had this stutter on everything from Kong to Perfect storm commentary tracks (while the TrueHD feature played through fine), but HF is the one I can whip out at any time after startup and get it to do the good ol' barf.

For those who aren't experiencing the barf on G1, make sure you select TrueHD for the real test of the issue.

When I turned off Sony's "Live Color" that's designed to make the colors more vivid the problem went away. I didn't think to check it at first since my previous Sony didn't do that with Live Color, it just effected mainly blues and a bit of green, but now the new sony effects almost all colors so I disable it.


there you go. It is calibration problem then (make sure you turn off "auto" anything, turn off red-push or anything else that pushes the colour). Lower down contrast, brightness and sharpness too. Either way, spend a couple hundred buck to get the display professionally calibrated. The PQ difference before and after is astounding.

there you go. It is calibration problem then (make sure you turn off "auto" anything, turn off red-push or anything else that pushes the colour). Lower down contrast, brightness and sharpness too. Either way, spend a couple hundred buck to get the display professionally calibrated. The PQ difference before and after is astounding.

I still don't understand what they'll do? Do they first pick an input and adjust some universal settings in the service menu that effects all inputs to make the colors correct or something? Do they then calibrate each device connected to the tv on each input?

depending how much you pay. The cheapest one they'll only calibrate for one input. If your TV can have multiple memory for each input, then you can pay more to calibrate the other inputs.

You are correct with your assumption of them doing calibration in the service menu, but the most important thing, the don't "eye-ball" the greyscale, they actually use a colorimeter. Even a 100 Kelvin shift will make a night-and-day difference.

try the following:

1. update FW to 2.2
2. clear Persistent Storage
3. shutdown player
4. unplug player
5. press power on player (yes, AFTER unplugging)
6. wait for about 1 minute
7. re-plug power
8. restart player and play the disc.

My disc problem solved forever after doing the above sequence.

Well.. I tried all that.
I *was* on firmware 1.3 on my XA1 running into a Sony GIII tv.
Now I have the wondrous Black crush. I can't even adjust my tv to SEE the THX letters. I only have 4 grey squares and no amount of adjusting will bring out more.

and of COURSE it didnt fix Happy Feet. It still locks up at the same spot.. though if you leave it about 3 mins it starts playing again.

So now I had to go to component out so i can get a regular THX grey scale w/ the 7 squares... which of course means i can't upscale regular dvds anymore.

Ugh. :mad:

depending how much you pay. The cheapest one they'll only calibrate for one input. If your TV can have multiple memory for each input, then you can pay more to calibrate the other inputs.

You are correct with your assumption of them doing calibration in the service menu, but the most important thing, the don't "eye-ball" the greyscale, they actually use a colorimeter. Even a 100 Kelvin shift will make a night-and-day difference.

So what's the biggest difference a calibration makes? More life like colors, dimmer screen, clarity? What's the visual difference one will expect for spending money like that. What if it comes out looking dull and dim and the person does not like that?

That will be my last question so we don't go too off topic.

the colour temperature, overall image quality (sharpness, contrast, brightness) etc will be identical to the mastering studio so if there is an area that's has no detail, then you know you're NOT supposed to see details. Basically it turns your display into a reference display.

Essentially, when someone "complains" that something doesn't look good on their display, it doesn't mean anything unless their display is properly calibrated to the mastering studio display.

Please note that I mention MASTERING studio and NOT authoring. In authoring, usually brightness and/or contrast is boosted up to show more imperfections such as banding, pixelization, mosquito noise so the compressionist can add the bitrate allocation accordingly.

If you want to ask more, feel free to PM me.

I received my replacement disk today from Warner Studios and it plays perfectly no matter which sound track you choose. This is on an A-2 with 1.3 firmware. :D

I got my new copy today in the mail from Warner. This is now my third disc (2 from Best Buy and 1 from Warner). I did the 2.2 update last night. I did the Clear Persistent Storage thing although I could never find out how you really do this.
I just tried pressing the D button as that cleared different blocks from the screen,is that the correct method of clearing Persistent Storage ?
Anyway my 28.49 freeze up is still present. I don't see how this can just be the discs,it has to be partly hardware as well.

I received my replacement today also.
I quickly tried it on my RCA/A1 with 2.x firmware and at the 28 minute scene, the screen froze for a second, then kept on playing with Dolby True HD selected.
I will need to test it a few more times to make sure but I'm guessing all they did was send me another new disc. The enclosed letter doesn't mention anything about fixing the problem.

Warner have not yet fixed the problem. My source at Warner indicates that what they're doing is just replacing the disc. So if they happen to replace it with the one from the same batch, well, you're SoL (as it is in my case too).

I don't know if I just got lucky and got one from a different batch or what but it plays just fine. It was packaged better than other shipments and came in the mail rather than the usual UPS. There was a letter from Sherri L Bogard, Business and Legal Affairs, enclosed with it. :)

Where are all of these bad copies coming from? I had pre-ordered mine from Amazon so it should have been an initial batch and I haven't had any problems. I have an HD-A1 purchased 04/06.

Happy Feet is pretty frustrating. I haven't tried replacing it yet. Maybe a month or so and they may get rid of all the defective copies.

One thing I don't understand are the people who post that there isn't a problem with the discs if THEY didn't have a problem with their copy. Then they try to suggest that it must be something else besides the disc itself.

IF EVERYONE COMPLAINING IS HAVING THE FREEZE AT THE EXACT SAME SPOT ON EACH DISC AS THE OTHERS WHO ARE COMPLAINING HOW IN THE WORLD CAN A LOGICAL PERSON CONCLUDE THAT IT IS ANYTHING OTHER THAN SOME BAD DISCS?

Now if random freezes and skips are occurring in different places one might logically make an argument for equipment problems, but that is NOT the case here. It happens at the exact same place on my disc as well as the others who are complaining.

Common sense should prevail here.

John

John,

If you're referring to my post, I wasn't indicating there wasn't a problem. I'm wondering why it's still a problem if people with copies from the initial batch didn't have problems. Were there different replicators and only some of them produced bad disks? Did most people with problems buy them from the same store chain or same geographical region?

John,

If you're referring to my post, I wasn't indicating there wasn't a problem. I'm wondering why it's still a problem if people with copies from the initial batch didn't have problems. Were there different replicators and only some of them produced bad disks? Did most people with problems buy them from the same store chain or same geographical region?


Well.. *mine* came from amazon. I ordered on the HD dvd birthday / anniversary buy-a-thon. I will be sending it in for a replacement. :(

I received my copy of Happy Feet from Amazon.com today (5/8/07) and it seems to play fine on my Toshiba HD-A1 with firmware 2.0. I haven't watched the entire movie yet, but since everyone was pointing to the 28 minute mark in Chapter 8, I skipped ahead to Chapter 7 and watched from there. No stuttering, lockups, or anything out of the ordinary. I'll post back when I watch the movie in its entirety.

P.S. - I did make sure to select the TrueHD track.

I received my copy of Happy Feet from Amazon.com today (5/8/07) and it seems to play fine on my Toshiba HD-A1 with firmware 2.0. I haven't watched the entire movie yet, but since everyone was pointing to the 28 minute mark in Chapter 8, I skipped ahead to Chapter 7 and watched from there. No stuttering, lockups, or anything out of the ordinary. I'll post back when I watch the movie in its entirety.

P.S. - I did make sure to select the TrueHD track.

I am watching this with my niece and nephew this weekend and do not want to encounter a complete freeze-up. To be safe, should I select DD+ for audio instead of TrueHD?

John,

If you're referring to my post, I wasn't indicating there wasn't a problem. I'm wondering why it's still a problem if people with copies from the initial batch didn't have problems. Were there different replicators and only some of them produced bad disks? Did most people with problems buy them from the same store chain or same geographical region?

It was just a general statement from a few posts here and elsewhere on these forums. "If it quacks like a duck................."

Mine came direct from Warner Brothers and freezes in the same spot as the others who complained.

IMO it shouldn't be necessary to figure out ways to trick it into not freezing.

John

I got my replacement yesterday, same freezing. 0-2.

If anybody tried, if a disk freezes on one player does it freeze on all players and likewise, if it plays fine on one, does it play fine on all.

Adam

try the following:

1. update FW to 2.2
2. clear Persistent Storage
3. shutdown player
4. unplug player
5. press power on player (yes, AFTER unplugging)
6. wait for about 1 minute
7. re-plug power
8. restart player and play the disc.

My disc problem solved forever after doing the above sequence.


I tried this, but no joy. Followed the instructions to the letter, but the problem (45 second pause for DD+, freezup for TrueHD) is identical as before.

I got my replacement yesterday, same freezing. 0-2.

If anybody tried, if a disk freezes on one player does it freeze on all players and likewise, if it plays fine on one, does it play fine on all.

Adam
Yes took my first disk to friends house and it froze in the same spot.
He kept and watched all of it and said it played through with no freeze.
He watched it again and it froze and was unable to fast forward through it.

Yes took my first disk to friends house and it froze in the same spot.
He kept and watched all of it and said it played through with no freeze.
He watched it again and it froze and was unable to fast forward through it.


What is truly mind boggling to me is that people are actually following these lame suggestions to update firmware and mess with their players possibly INTRODUCING problems that weren't there before to fix a problem that CANNOT POSSIBLY be the player. Logic should dictate here. Maybe the editors used a variable bitrate and set the maximum too high so that the motion in that scene sent the bitrate higher than some players can process it fast enough. THAT would make sense.

What possible anomaly in the PLAYER could cause a freeze in the exact same spot on ONE single DVD title? I'd love to hear this explanation from someone suggesting that the player is the problem because THEY didn't have a problem with their disc. The logical explanation is that YOUR disc wasn't defective.

John

John,

I think its more likely something in the disc that causes problems on some players while not on others.

I've tried 3 different Happy Feet disc on my A1. All 3 freeze at the 28ish minute mark. I took this same disc to Circuit City and played it on a A2. Went through the problem spot 3 different times without a single glitch.

Took the disc home and tried it again on my A1. Once again, it froze.

....and here's an interesting twist.
What seems very odd in all this is that I believe the first disc. played all the way through without freezing the first time I played it. The third disc, the first time I played it stuttered at the problem spot yet played through. After that, both disc would consistantly freeze at the problem spot.

What is truly mind boggling to me is that people are actually following these lame suggestions to update firmware and mess with their players possibly INTRODUCING problems that weren't there before to fix a problem that CANNOT POSSIBLY be the player. Logic should dictate here. Maybe the editors used a variable bitrate and set the maximum too high so that the motion in that scene sent the bitrate higher than some players can process it fast enough. THAT would make sense.

What possible anomaly in the PLAYER could cause a freeze in the exact same spot on ONE single DVD title? I'd love to hear this explanation from someone suggesting that the player is the problem because THEY didn't have a problem with their disc. The logical explanation is that YOUR disc wasn't defective.

John

Definitely there IS something wrong with the disc. However, if by updating my firmware, clearing the persistent storage, hard reset and then the hiccup completely disappears, why not jump through the hoops?

I took my copy of the disk to my father's house this weekend. i tried it on his HD-A1 and it played through just fine.

He has a HD-A1 with 2.0
I have an HD-A1 with 2.2 (also 2.1)

Any guesses of what is going on?

Adam

I had the same issue. Thought it was a HDMI issue being the timer wes still going. I ended up hitting next and it played flawless from then on.

Prehapps a bad batch of discs..

I have had a few disks that displayed the same problems that you describe. The picture freezes but the timer keeps advancing. I mean whats the story with that? Its not a HDMI issue..(I have an older plasma without HDMI/DVI inputs so I use component connections) . My solution is to remove the disk and give it a rather thourough cleaning with either liquid hand soap or dish soap and tap water just rubbing the disk with my fingers for a minute or so and then drying it with a hand towel. I do this even if the disk with the freezing problem looks absolutely pristine. I don't know why this has worked for me or whether it will work for anyone else. I have an A1 with the 2.0 update.

I received my 2nd disc from Amazon today.

Washed it, did the clear storage thing / pwr off etc.... tried to play it. HF still freezes at the same spot. *Sigh*

I have an XA1.. HF froze for me w/ 1.3 and 2.2 firmware. These days, thanks to 2.2, I'm using component out. :(

2.2 didn't fix your DVI problem? It fixed mine (and many other individuals, for that matter).

2.2 didn't fix your DVI problem? It fixed mine (and many other individuals, for that matter).


No, as i mentioned before.. the only firmware that played nice w/ my Sony GWIII was
1.2 / 1.3 for the XA1. The other versions of firmware have black crush (including 2.2) with this GWIII when using HDMI.

Attached are photos of my GWIII using firmware 1.3.. then 2.2 on HDMI.
(No, no amount of brightness / contrast adjustment makes anymore bars show on the latter pic.)

At least I can still use component and get a picture like i had w/ firmware 1.3... as long as i don't mind not being able to up-rez DVDs.

JFinch,

In case you don't know, the DVI input on the GWIII converts to analog very early in processing. Essentially, you don't benefit with a digital input over component with the GWIII unless the disc player does a crummy job with the component output.

I had a GWIII and it was a pretty good display.

OK, did a search as I figured this too odd for me to be alone...

Sure enough, bunches have the hard freeze at 28 mins.

What do I do? Just got this disc during the big Amazon sale. Is it possible they are still pumping out BAD disks?!

:mad:

Man, this is frustrating!!! Don't want to go BD, cause I really want TrueHD.

FW v2.3 update (Internet / Comcast Cable) corrected this "Happy Feet" glitch (plus a few other HD DVDs) with my August 2006 Toshiba HD-A1. :D

What HD DVD player? FW version??

Phil

A2 I just got from Amazon. How do I check the firmware version?

A2 I just got from Amazon. How do I check the firmware version?

With my HD-A1 Remote, I enter the "SETUP" HD-A1 area, then choose ...

Maintenance / Update

... shows what Firmware version you have & it's the same Menu area you'd use to do an on-line update (which is what I do!).

According to Toshiba, you're A2 latest FW version = 2.2 (http://www.tacp.com/tacpassets-images/notices/hddvd2firmware.asp)

Phil

Updated to v2.2 and still no-go.

I guess that means the disc has to go back.

I'm glad that this thread is still alive. I have an A1 from April '06. I thought I would give Happy Feet another try this afternoon. I have firmware 2.3. I have my second copy from Warner Brothers from a few months back. I even ran the hot water and tried washing the disc for a few minutes.
So I tried again and the 28.49 freeze is still alive and well.
It seems that new copies still have this problem. What was the point of people sending their damaged copies to Warner ? Looks like it was a huge waste of time and postage cost. Do we give it a year or so before we do any thing about this ? (maybe a new version will somehow come out) With all the returns how do they not know that there is a big problem ?
This has to be the worst HDDVD problem that there is although Children of Men might be close.

after the last update, have you unplugged the player, press power, plug back the player, THEN start playing the movie? Many friends of mine had the same problem using the latest firmware until they did the hard reset as mentioned above and then the problem disappeared.

If you let Happy feet continue after the freeze at 28:49 it will startup again after 15-20 seconds. Then plays fine.

Oh well THAT's not annoying and is COMPLETELY acceptable. ;)

I had a similar problem with this disc so I up-dated the player turned it on then pressed and held in for ten seconds the power button on the player until it shut off and after powering back on the disc played back just fine.

I'll add my names to the list on this:

I own Happy Feet and it plays just fine on my XBOX360 Addon / HTPC Setup. I get amazing picture quality , no stutters or performance issues. I rented March of the Penguins and it played just fine.. PLUS I definitely do not agree with any ratings of poor picture quality. I think the PQ on MotP was definitely quite nice!

Well, I thought I should try out Happy Feet on my other A2 that I purchased from BB about two months ago. Pretty sure it had the same firmware version as the Amazon player.

NO FREEZE AT 28 minutes!!

It had a small line that occured for a nanosecond that resembled an artifact. I'm guessing it was the layer change.

Needless to say, one player did fine, the other froze.

What to do?

Send back the Amazon player and exchange it??

Sometimes but only sometimes it will resume playing but it will be 10 minutes or more in all cases. I guess I will let this sit for a while before returning it to Warner. The only time I have ever seen this all the way through was in the theatre. I remember thinking how cool it would look in HD. Oh Well ! Maybe next year.