pun sort of intended.....

Bought both of the pirates movies late yesterday but did not watch them. My wife put it in for our son today and it got stuck on the skull screen with no obvious way to play the movie.

So after looking at the disk, unplugging and plugging in the machine mutiple times, to finally going back to the store becasue she thought the disk was defective, to coming back with another disk but with the same problem remaing i come home to an upset wife and son.

Well of course i have a newly aquired samsung bdp-1200 and after looking here i found out i needed a firmware update. So after connecting the player and downloading the update (which took forever with no progress bar), and then finally getting a message asking if i wanted to do the update (yes) ,and then waiting again until it said update complete ,and then trying to click ok to the update complete message but having no response at all i finally unplugged the player, wondering if i had bricked it.

Fortunately I didn't and was able to power up and FINALLY let them watch the movie.

This is not the way to sell and deliver a good consumer electronics experinence. A typical scenario would be my parents who might have popped for new TV and hi def player brought all this home and hooked it all up and then experience this?

I'm sure that they would have bailed half way through and said the hell with it.

END OF RANT

In all honesty, you're using bleeding edge hardware, a few hiccups are always to be expected. That it was already fixed through an available firmware update is pretty good actually.

In all honesty, you're using bleeding edge hardware, a few hiccups are always to be expected. That it was already fixed through an available firmware update is pretty good actually.


No kidding... most movies come with warning leaflets saying. UPDATE FIRMWARE...


This is common sense practice. If it doesn't work, download an update. If there is no update, then piss and moan.

pun sort of intended.....

Bought both of the pirates movies late yesterday but did not watch them. My wife put it in for our son today and it got stuck on the skull screen with no obvious way to play the movie.

So after looking at the disk, unplugging and plugging in the machine mutiple times, to finally going back to the store becasue she thought the disk was defective, to coming back with another disk but with the same problem remaing i come home to an upset wife and son.

Well of course i have a newly aquired samsung bdp-1200 and after looking here i found out i needed a firmware update. So after connecting the player and downloading the update (which took forever with no progress bar), and then finally getting a message asking if i wanted to do the update (yes) ,and then waiting again until it said update complete ,and then trying to click ok to the update complete message but having no response at all i finally unplugged the player, wondering if i had bricked it.

Fortunately I didn't and was able to power up and FINALLY let them watch the movie.

This is not the way to sell and deliver a good consumer electronics experinence. A typical scenario would be my parents who might have popped for new TV and hi def player brought all this home and hooked it all up and then experience this?

I'm sure that they would have bailed half way through and said the hell with it.

END OF RANT


waaaaa,

want some cheese with your wine?


be gratefull. it worked.

pun sort of intended.....

Bought both of the pirates movies late yesterday but did not watch them. My wife put it in for our son today and it got stuck on the skull screen with no obvious way to play the movie.

So after looking at the disk, unplugging and plugging in the machine mutiple times, to finally going back to the store becasue she thought the disk was defective, to coming back with another disk but with the same problem remaing i come home to an upset wife and son.

Well of course i have a newly aquired samsung bdp-1200 and after looking here i found out i needed a firmware update. So after connecting the player and downloading the update (which took forever with no progress bar), and then finally getting a message asking if i wanted to do the update (yes) ,and then waiting again until it said update complete ,and then trying to click ok to the update complete message but having no response at all i finally unplugged the player, wondering if i had bricked it.

Fortunately I didn't and was able to power up and FINALLY let them watch the movie.

This is not the way to sell and deliver a good consumer electronics experinence. A typical scenario would be my parents who might have popped for new TV and hi def player brought all this home and hooked it all up and then experience this?

I'm sure that they would have bailed half way through and said the hell with it.

END OF RANT

As a grown up, dad, and husband...(not saying waaaaaaa, as that is just immature!) I feel your pain in the HD DVD format too. I haven't pitched all of my standard DVD players just yet. I'm hanging onto an old Sony progressive player just for the daughter's movies and Little Leaps game system.

I am dying to find out how old eXgo is...

waaaaa,

want some cheese with your wine?


be gratefull. it worked.

that was helpful...... :rolleyes: That's a pretty far out concept of being grateful that something actually would work like it is supposed to? So I guess you just consider every purchase to be a gamble and you get lucky sometimes. SHEESH

I was just pointing out that the companies have a long long long way to go in making this stuff usable/friendly to the general public.

I understand about the idea of eraly adopter and so forth and dont actually mind when i know about it going in.

The point is this kind of stuff and the elitism that some on this board have hurts what we all ultimately want which is more choice and lower prices in content.

As apple figured out with the ipod, if your device is too techy, only techies will use it.

Again the idea of plugging a dvd player in to a home network to update the firmware is simply a non starter for someone like my dad. The only part that he would even recognize is DVD player.

This is a factor for me as well, luckily we haven't had any issues with the PS3 and playback.

I got a call earlier this week because 'someone' had changed the input on the tv and my wife couldn't figure out how to get it working.

I got a call earlier this week because 'someone' had changed the input on the tv and my wife couldn't figure out how to get it working.


Oh man, I feel for you.


Anyone coming into my house gets 'remote control boot camp' :D

I have the same player and had the same issue. I'm a supporter of both formats but have had major playback issues with many BD titles.

snoguy, you make some good points. How would the general public know if they need a firmware update for their new movies. Firmware updates are well beyond the capabilities of most people except the technically minded that hang out in forums like this. You gotta wonder if the BR player manufacturers get early access to new movies like the POTCs so they can test with them. In another thread was a post from someone who called Samsung and was told they were waiting to get BR movies from NetFlix to test with! How ridiculous is that! So, until they get their collective acts together we are essentially Beta testing their products.

snoguy, you make some good points. How would the general public know if they need a firmware update for their new movies. Firmware updates are well beyond the capabilities of most people except the technically minded that hang out in forums like this. You gotta wonder if the BR player manufacturers get early access to new movies like the POTCs so they can test with them. In another thread was a post from someone who called Samsung and was told they were waiting to get BR movies from NetFlix to test with! How ridiculous is that! So, until they get their collective acts together we are essentially Beta testing their products.
What a revelation! ...
General public is not yet buying into either of the HD formats. This is still the early adopter stage. Seriously, we all here are HT enthusiasts. Weren't that quite clear to all of us before? As an early adopter you pay higher price for a less mature product with more bugs than a common guy who buys a 2-3 gen product a year down the road. Patience is a virtue. If you are not patient enough to wait then do not complaint about the glitches. The same was with VCRs, laser disc and DVD players. I am pretty sure the same will be happening in the future with some 3D holographic disc players, ....

I have the same player and had the same issue. I'm a supporter of both formats but have had major playback issues with many BD titles.

You own both products, but your post history clearly supports HD-DVD.

What a revelation! ...
General public is not yet buying into either of the HD formats. This is still the early adopter stage. Seriously, we all here are HT enthusiasts. Weren't that quite clear to all of us before? As an early adopter you pay higher price for a less mature product with more bugs than a common guy who buys a 2-3 gen product a year down the road. Patience is a virtue. If you are not patient enough to wait then do not complaint about the glitches. The same was with VCRs, laser disc and DVD players. I am pretty sure the same will be happening in the future with some 3D holographic disc players, ....


I agree with you that it is to be expected to a degree, but that doesn't mean we should'nt call companies on it when they do dumb things.

I take no joy out of needing to be tech saavy to know all this, just so my son can watch a movie. I get enough complexity in my job. Isn't the point of this stuff (for me anyway) to be able to just relax and enjoy

That's why I bought a PS3 that tells me every time a new firmware is available. It's an easy download (with progress bar), it's an easy install (with progress bar) and it's easy to play my BD movies. Not one problem playing one disc since I bought it in Nov.

Sucks being an early adopter huh? Not making excuses, but firmware updates are here to stay for both formats. The advanced movie authoring is bound to cause problems as more and more players come online.

I actually applaud Samsung for having a firmware update so quickly. I own both formats and HD DVD owners have waited months for Toshiba to fix some of the Universal combo playback issues.

If you think this is bad, wait until cheap Chinese players start showing up. This is going to get ugly.....

Not exactly related but...

The last movie I bought and had problems playing was the Snow White special edition DVD, in fact it was what pushed me to get rid of my standalone and dive into the HTPC.

waaaaa,

want some cheese with your wine?


be gratefull. it worked.

You must work in the IT dept.

Sucks being an early adopter huh? Not making excuses, but firmware updates are here to stay for both formats. The advanced movie authoring is bound to cause problems as more and more players come online.

I actually applaud Samsung for having a firmware update so quickly. I own both formats and HD DVD owners have waited months for Toshiba to fix some of the Universal combo playback issues.

If you think this is bad, wait until cheap Chinese players start showing up. This is going to get ugly.....

You are probably right about it getting ugly. You would think that there would be some type of sharing between the hardware and software companies though. It is in both of thier best interests to make it work. I cant belive that samsung and sony could not get advanced copies to test their players.

You are probably right about it getting ugly. You would think that there would be some type of sharing between the hardware and software companies though. It is in both of thier best interests to make it work. I cant belive that samsung and sony could not get advanced copies to test their players.

And if it failed the tests, they'd release a firmware update, which puts you right back in your current predicament.

I agree with you that it is to be expected to a degree, but that doesn't mean we should'nt call companies on it when they do dumb things.

I take no joy out of needing to be tech saavy to know all this, just so my son can watch a movie. I get enough complexity in my job. Isn't the point of this stuff (for me anyway) to be able to just relax and enjoy

I understand how you feel... It does suck when things just don't seem to go as planned. However, as many have said, this is a new tech and there are gong to be glitches. This is a hobby, and all hobbies take a lot of time, tweeking, and money.

Hey folks, no need to bash the OP. He brings up a valid point.

I take no joy out of needing to be tech saavy to know all this, just so my son can watch a movie. I get enough complexity in my job. Isn't the point of this stuff (for me anyway) to be able to just relax and enjoy

I absolutely agree. The high-definition video industry (including broadcast, satellite and cable) has really splintered the field with too many conflicting "standards":


Video cable: component, VGA, DVI, HDMI
Audio cable: Toslink, coaxial digital, coaxial analog
Video resolution: 720p60, 1080i60, 1080p24, 1080p60
Disc format: Blu-ray, HD DVD


The list goes on and on and on. Most people don't even realize there are so many incompatibilities until they buy the equipment and bring it home, and it's a real challenge to set them up right (and I'm sure the industry is feeling it too, as I'm sure a lot of people are returning perfectly good equipment just because they can't figure out how to connect them correctly).

ok, now off the soapbox
gandalf :o

Hey folks, no need to bash the OP. He brings up a valid point.



I absolutely agree. The high-definition video industry (including broadcast, satellite and cable) has really splintered the field with too many conflicting "standards":


Video cable: component, VGA, DVI, HDMI
Audio cable: Toslink, coaxial digital, coaxial analog
Video resolution: 720p60, 1080i60, 1080p24, 1080p60
Disc format: Blu-ray, HD DVD


The list goes on and on and on. Most people don't even realize there are so many incompatibilities until they buy the equipment and bring it home, and it's a real challenge to set them up right (and I'm sure the industry is feeling it too, as I'm sure a lot of people are returning perfectly good equipment just because they can't figure out how to connect them correctly).

ok, now off the soapbox
gandalf :o

well hopefully the CES industry is finally getting together on standards with moving towards HDMI (even computers) and 1080p.

You must work in the IT dept.

how'd you know ? :)