The Official Sony BDP-S550 Owner's Thread - Page 128

just tried to watch "the fighter" on my 550...no luck

this is the first disc that's ever given the sony any trouble...it just won't play beyond the "paramount...high def" logo

any one else had this trouble...?

Did you clear the BD Data before inserting the disc and installed the latest updates?

OK, I've just had my first problem with this player. I was watching The Dark Knight and after about 45 minutes it started to freeze and skip, then just completely locked up. At first I thought it was a dirty disc, so I cleaned it up and tried playing again and the same symptoms happened after about 15 more minutes of playing. I just tried to play a brand new The Big Lebowski disc and the exact same thing happened. Curiously, dvd's still play fine, so this looks like a blu-ray disc only problem. I have the latest firmware installed too. Has this happened to anyone else that could help me out? If I have to take it to a repair center, how much will that cost? Ugh...

I played the dark knight on my player with no problems. Sounds like your blu laser isn't working right or tracking wrong if dvd is still working. I would bet sony would charge more to fix it than it would cost for a new one.

I've moved to a used ps3 and LOVE it. Check out your local craigslist and see if you can find one.

I've viewed "The Dark Knight" at least twice on my 550 and didn't have any issues. I own the movie so it isn't a rental. I've never updated the 550 and never found a reson to update it. It still plays every BluRay I play on it. I don't play CDs or regular DVDs on the player.

Was your copy a rental?

Good luck

My disc wasn't a rental and I've played it a few times with no problems. All discs I've ever played have been new and scratchless. I only use the player on Blu's and I really don't watch a lot of discs weekly. I just tried to watch another movie and it froze after about 15 minutes. I'm beginning to think there's a problem with the fan and it may be overheating. The fan wasn't spinning for those 15 minutes before it froze. I've had this player for almost 3 years and it looks like it's just at the end of it's life.

Spray the fan out with compressed air.
If that doesn't work I suggest....
TigerDirect has the Sony BDP-S580 3D Blu-Ray Player for a low $128.99 after Coupon Code

Just tried spraying compressed air on the fan and inside the casing, no change. It still freezes after 15-45 minutes. Not looking good...

Overheating surely sounds like a real possibility. Does the fan ever come on at all? If not - maybe you could try replacing the fan yourself if you can find a matching one (size, shape and voltage).

The fan does work, but maybe it's turning on too late? It now turns itself on after about 20 minutes of powering on the player. I seem to remember it being louder in the past, now I can't really hear it at all. This is all assuming that it's a fan issue and overheating. I don't really know how to diagnose whatever problem I'm having and Sony wants to charge over $100 to ship it to a repair center and fix it. Unless I can get a new fan for pretty cheap, I may be looking for a new player.

My player is beginning to behave strangely. I put Bluray disks in it and they won't play at all or won't play properly. These are rental disks.

Typically, I remove the disk and wipe the surface. Sometimes, this remedies the problem but it does seem to be getting more frequent and more severe - the disk is clean to start with or the cleaning is ineffective.

Every time I've tried it, disks that won't play on my BDP will play successfully on my PS3.

This player has seen very little use and has never been abused over the few years I've had this system.

Any ideas on what to do?

The obvious thing to try is a player lens cleaning disc.

I am using a Harman kardon avr-347. It supports 7.1 pcm over hdmi, but doesn't do any hd audio decoding. I tried watching Star wars blu ray, which is 6.1 DTS MA.

unfortunately I am getting 5.1 audio, is there a setting in the s550 to send the 6.1 over hdmi pcm

After about 3 years , I have only had a handfull of load problems and only with NetFlix but a lens cleaning after a few years (along with fan cleaning) is probably in order.

I am using s550 with analog outputs and I can't get rear centre channel on Star Wars Blu-Rays either.

I could get full 6.1 with Top Gun but not on T2 or U2's Rattle and Hum. I updated the firmware yesterday by Internet plugged into 550 and now can get Rattle and Hum's DTS 6.1 Matrix encoded mono rear to both rear channels and also full 6.1 with T2. But the firmware update doesn't allow me get anything from rear channels for Star Wars movies. I only get 5.1 - can anyone play Star Wars with full 6.1 on 550?

More on the 6.1 fault or issue with Star Wars - The on-screen display says DTS-HD 3/3.1 for sound channels but the centre rear doesn't play - but the rear works fine on the THX logo at the end where the onscreen display also says DTS-HD 3/3.1 ...?

I would suggest notifying Sony. Although its now a pretty old player, its still decent and I would hope Sony still give updates where required.

Please be advised that a new generation of BD+ protection has arrived. The known titles that use the new generation are "X-MEN first class" and "Star Wars - the complete saga disc set". Check for firmware update.

I'm trying to figure out how to send PCM to my AVR instead of Birstream. I recently had trouble playing the Transformers 3 bluray with the TrueHD track. My AVR apparently needs a firmware update that won't decode this bluray properly. I'm currently running everything via HDMI to my AVR.

I discovered that if I change the audio setting to "Mix" instead of "Direct" this player internally decoded the TrueHD track and it played perfectly.

However, when I tried to play the Thor bluray, the decoding on the S550 just said "DTS" instead of "DTS-Master". Is this player incapable of internally decoding this? When I switch the setting back to "Direct" the "DTS-Master" encoding shows up on the S550, but it's now bitstream.

Am I missing something?

Hi,

I recently tried to play again the Beauty and the Beast blu-ray disc and after the trailers part, the player didn't go to the Top Menu. Everything I did (skip the trailers, or press the Top Menu button on the remote) was useless. The disc was playing before. I think I got the last firmware update earlier this month or last month. The player was purchased in 2008 and has seen a lot of use. Any ideas what is going on? Perhaps it is important to mention that I never cleaned the lenses since I bought it?

Thank you for your help.

Did you erase all the BD date and then turn it off and try to reinsert the disc?

That is what I have to with Universal Blu-ray titles like Bridesmaids and Scott Pilgrim.

I did and it works now.

Thank you for the tip.

BD data?

The BD data can be seen under the menu option for video. It sits just above the disc icon that you click to start playing the movie. This has been a source for trouble at times. Deleting the contents seems to help with playback problems.

I wonder how many problems can be traced back to bd live--the 550 has bd live, right? You have to put the external memory in and all? It's been long enough since I set mine up I don't recall for sure, but I know I turn bd live off and never put the memory thing in I don't think (I just want to watch the movie, don't need the other stuff) and so far I have never had a problem with the 550's. Build quality and remote quality are light years ahead of any of the cheap players out these days, which seem to just go lower and lower in terms of build quality, though some do ok with actual performance. I purchase players for work every little while, so I get to compare to my 550's, and so far haven't found anything that makes me feel like I need to replace them. Yes, they have faster startup, but in terms of actual performance, I think the older sony's tend to almost do better in picture quality, especially color. Maybe it's just me.

Thanks, Zero G

I watched the first Jurassic Park BluRay last night. And the audio came in as 5.1. Just as Star Wars Episode One did. I think it is as posted a copy right encoded problem. I hope Sony would find a fix for this player. Or I'll be forced to upgrade to a newer player. And the only player I see worth going to is the Oppo 93. But, upon reading through its thread. It is far from perfect also.

The Oppo has a better chance of being perfect than your Sony. Trust me, I own both.

I don't think the BluRay cartel will allow any player or movie to be perfect. But, since the Oppo is still in production. They will be supporting known problems much more readily.

I got to looking at my settings in the 550 audio menu. And the surround back speakers were turned off. The error for not playing 7.1 on JP was mine. Some time ago I was playing with switching my rear sound to my rear back speakers. My surround speakers are mounted to my side walls and the rear back speakers are mounted to the ceiling behind me. I was trying to see what 5.1 would sound like with different surround placement on 5.1 movies. I must have turned off the rear back. My bad!

Looks like the 550 is still a winner for me.